WINNIPEG -- Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is set to declare a state of emergency as a snow storm continues to hit parts of the province for a third straight day.
During a press conference Saturday, Pallister said he’s making the call at the request of Manitoba Hydro.
“We’ll be proceeding to grant that request, and to do the necessary procedural things to bring about the ability of Manitoba Hydro to proceed more rapidly than would otherwise be the case,” said Pallister.
The premier said the move will allow Hydro to access more resources and supplies to restore power faster.
As of 6:45 p.m. on Saturday over 45,000 Manitobans were still without power, including over 7,000 customers in Winnipeg.
Pallister said the province anticipates in some areas of the province there may continue to be power outages for as much as four or five days.
‘Highly unusual early season storm’: ECCC
Environment and Climate Chance Canada said more than 60 centimetres of snow fell in some parts of the province.
“This is a highly unusual early season storm,” said Jason Knight, meteorologist with Environment Canada, in a phone call with CTV News.
“The sheer amount of moisture that was brought northward is unusual for this late in the year. It’s more like a large summer storm,” he added.
“There certainly haven’t been any storms like this in recent memory.”
In 1959 Knight said there was an October storm that dumped 34 cm of snow in the Brandon area.
The weather agency said Carberry received the most snow in this storm with 74 cm, while some parts of Winnipeg are dealing with 34 cm.
Knight said the three day storm is finished, flurries are tapering off, and all warnings have ended.
-With files from CTV's Beth Macdonell
