Election Officials Forced To Contend With Blackout

Election Officials Forced To Contend With Blackout

Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 13:18

Election night got a lot more complicated in northeast Saskatchewan because of a prolonged power outage.

Several communities north of Prince Albert along Highway 2 were without power for over three hours, starting at around 5:00 pm yesterday.

SaskPower says a contractor involved in the clearing of trees near the Montreal Lake turnoff accidentally hit a power pole, shattering the insulators on top of the pole and displacing the wires.

Spokesman Larry Christie says the length of the power outage was due in part to the crews deciding to do a permanent fix, instead of a temporary one. He also says the fact they had to travel from as far away as Prince Albert didn’t help matters.

Christie says the clear-cutting is being done as part of the work associated with replacing a section of the main transmission line along Highway 2.

Election officials in the northeast made do with generators and lanterns.