SaskPower provided an update on efforts to restore power to communities in the East and Southeast portion of the province, after Thursday night’s ice storm.

“Our crews continue to assess the damage caused by last night’s ice storm and are working hard to restore power where it is safe to do so.” SaskPower said in a news release. “A large challenge our technicians face is the ongoing risk of additional branches falling onto power lines, so significant tree trimming is needed to ensure repairs hold.”

As of 5 p.m. Friday, there are 22-thousand customers without power. The provincial power company hopes to have damaged lines and poles repaired by later this evening (Fri).

The hardest hit areas were Punnichy, Strasbourg, Fort Qu’Appelle, and rural areas around Melville, and SaskPower says customers in these areas will be without power overnight.

“Since the beginning of the storm until 5:00 p.m. tonight, our Outage Centre has fielded over 19,000 calls.” SaskPower noted.

The Crown utility encourages everyone to report an outage online at saskpower.com/reportoutage, and if people see a downed line to call the Outage Centre at 310-2220. If and when people come across a downed line, they’re advised to stand back at least 10 metres or 33 feet.

Freezing rain caused tree branches to break and fall and a loss of power to multiple areas in Yorkton, and also led to a dangerous condition advisory issued by Yorkton.