Meechewin Place/Henry's Place in La Ronge (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

outage

Power outage causes line-ups in La Ronge

May 18, 2021 | 10:27 AM

SaskPower says 8,800 customers were affected by the power outage that was triggered yesterday by the wildfire on the northeast edge of Prince Albert.

That outage is impacting a wide region including Waskesiu, La Ronge, Stanley Mission, Meath park, Paddockwood and Christopher Lake.

A transmission line was damaged and it is not clear yet when repairs can be completed.

In La Ronge, the only store that was open this morning is Henry’s Place, and that had line-ups.

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Reporter Derek Cornet described the scene as very busy with people lining up for food, cigarettes and essentials, although it appeared there was no gas available. It was not immediately clear if they had run out or they were unable to use their gas pumps because of the power outage. The store is running on a generator.

Roseanne Dery was in the line-up. She works at the local school and had to go home early when they lost power in the afternoon. But she used her camping gear at home to get through last night and this morning .

“I just pulled out the camp stove and my head lamp and that sort of stuff and kind of made do,” she said. “This morning I made coffee on my camp stove. A lot of people here in the North have camping gear.”

In a Facebook post this morning, La Ronge mayor Colin Ratushniak said SaskPower would be holding an Incident Command Meeting this morning to further assess the situation. He hoped to have a fuller picture of the situation around 11 a.m.

He said there would be an official emergency response among the Tri-Community leadership later today.

Water and sewer systems are currently working on back up power, but Ratushniak urged residents to reduce water and sewer usage to avoid backups.

Tap water is fully drinkable, he said.

Co-op has brought in portable fridges to deal with spoiling food.

He asked the community not to panic about the situation.

With files from Derek Cornet.

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glenn.hicks@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @larongeNOW