Approximately 28,000 Manitoba Hydro customers were without power in and around Winnipeg Thursday morning after a storm whipped through the area, it said.

Crews have been deployed to assess downed lines and restore power for those affected, most of whom are in Winnipeg, said Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Peter Chura.

“The vast majority of (the affected customers) are in the city of Winnipeg and that’s where we’re seeing most of the extensive damage from trees on lines, lines down, whole power lines taken down,” Chura told 680 CJOB Thursday morning.

The storm began in the city around 10 p.m. Wednesday, with winds moving faster than 90 kilometres per hour reported in Winnipeg. More than 2,900 lightning strikes were also reported within a 50-kilometre radius of Winnipeg’s centre, Environment Canada and Climate Change Canada said.

Outages that are affecting the most people are being prioritized, Chura said.

“Customers who are out of power now should be prepared for an extended outage, throughout the day, at least, for sure. I anticipate there will be some out overnight, but we don’t know until later today.”

Get daily National news

Chura said outages were also reported in Brandon and around Portage la Prairie, and that most of the impacted customers in Brandon have had their power restored.

Thousands were without power in Transcona Thursday morning, he noted, adding that the worst hit areas include Elmhurst, Silver Heights and Charleswood.

James Jordan, a resident of Winnipeg’s Charleswood neighbourhood, told 680 CJOB he was watching the storm with his wife and “hunkering down for the night.”

“My wife and I love watching storms, so we saw the lightning, thought it’d be great. She started freaking out when she saw the little trees whipping around, thinking, ‘Oh, if they break, oh no.’ And I said, ‘No, it’s the big trees you’ve got to worry about,'” he recounted.

“Well, we heard a snap, took a look in the front, (and) huge limb of our tree went right down on the truck.”

Thankfully, Jordan said, nothing on his truck was broken — but he noted a couple of dents in the frame. He managed to remove the tree limb himself, using a reciprocating saw.

Elsewhere in Charleswood, Jordan reported seeing downed trees, knocked-over fences and traffic lights out of service.

“(I) saw a gazebo blown over somebody’s yard, bent to pieces. There’s a lot of damage in the area. The winds were really bad last night,” Jordan said.

Manitoba Hydro is advising anyone who comes across a downed power line to stay away and call 911.