Thousands of Manitobans remained without power Monday after a storm hit the southern areas of the province hard Sunday night.
The severe thunderstorm struck southern Manitoba around 6:30 p.m. on July 29, leaving widespread damage in its path.
In Winnipeg, the storm toppled hydro poles, knocking out power to thousands of residents and uprooting trees on residential streets.
Neil Rempel's home on Kingston Row was among those damaged.
"The sheets of plywood kept coming from our neighbour's house and pinched our roof and broke five rafters in our attic and damaged our balcony on our patio," he said.
By Monday morning, fire officials said they had received over 200 calls and were still getting more calls from residents about damage to property and downed hydro poles.
Kingston Row near Kingston Crescent were among areas with damage, including trees toppled over and power lines knocked down.
Manitoba Hydro officials said about 700 River Heights residents were without power Monday morning.
Scott Powell, a spokesman for Manitoba Hydro, said there were sporadic power outages throughout the province, including Winnipeg, and it would take some time to restore power to all residents.
Powell said about 150 customers in Fort Richmond were also affected, and Manitoba Hydro had received reports of power outages in many homes on Kingston Row.
“This one was pretty severe. The winds were quite high," said Powell.
Winnipegger Casey Dixon was home when the storm hit and saw a hydro pole ripped from the ground.
“I was watching from my porch. I saw this telephone pole get hit by lightning – a shower of sparks,” said Dixon. “The thing split into three pieces and did a full revolution before it came to the ground.”
Wind gusts reached about 100 kilometres per hour in the city – and in other areas, like St. Laurent, winds reached a staggering 150 km/h.
Many homes and cottages were severely damaged in the area. For more coverage on St. Laurent’s storm, click here.
Powell said about 1,300 customers in the Falcon Lake had their power knocked out Sunday night. By Monday morning, power had been restored to about 500 people living in the area, and Hydro was still working on restoring power to another 800.
Other areas also experienced outages, including the Interlake/Eastman areas like Twin Beaches, St. Laurent, Stonewall, Teulon, Selkirk, Winnipeg beach as well as southern areas around Gimli, Beausejour, Falcon Lake and Lac du Bonnet.
By Monday afternoon, Hydro pegged the number of people who had been temporarily without power in Winnipeg around 1,200, while about 2,300 people across the province were left with power.
Hydro officials said they expected to have power restored for most residents by the end of Monday.
In Winnipeg, the danger of falling trees and power lines was accompanied by lightning throughout the city. Sheryl Shatkosky was watching the storm from her porch when she saw lightning strike a neighbour’s home.
“There was really nice lightning, thunder. All of a sudden there was a loud boom and a streak of lightning hitting this house,” Shatkosky said.
Shatkosky quickly called 911 and crews arrived to make sure the home wasn’t on fire.
Fire officials said no one was hurt when lightning struck the home, but the roof would need to be repaired.
Winnipeg police said there were no reports of injuries from the storm, but they received numerous reports of fallen trees and traffic signals down. They advised motorists to use extreme caution late Sunday night.
Police reminded the public to call 311 to report downed trees or hydro poles so that other emergency lines remain open for emergencies. Police also said people should treat flashing lights as four-way stops.
Manitoba Hydro is asking anyone who sees downed power lines to stay clear of them and not try to remove any trees or debris. Instead, Powell said, call Hydro, and they will remove the debris and repair the lines.
Manitoba Hydro is asking anyone who sees downed lines or has a power outage to call them at 204-480-5900 within the city and 1-888-624-9376 outside the city.
-- with reports from CTV's Deborah Mensah-Bonsu and Rajeev Dhir
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- to check out more images of the storm, please go to our photo gallery
