Everything you need to know for Saturday, October 12

A winter storm warning has now ended for the City of Winnipeg, however many other areas are still under the warning. Thousands remain without power and several highways are closed. Here's everything you need to know:

Power outages

Nearly 50,000 customers are without power as of 8:00 a.m. throughout southern Manitoba.

Manitoba Hydro says that crews worked throughout the evening doing their best to restore power to as many customers as possible.

There are 7,000 customers still without power in the City of Winnipeg, 5,500 in Portage la Prairie, and many others throughout the south.

Manitoba Hydro says they've been forced to quit giving estimated restoration times given the staggering amount of work ahead of them. Crews from unaffected areas of the province have been brought in to help.

Hydro says that crews will especially focus on restoration in the Portage la Prairie and Neepawa areas.

You can find more information on an outage in your area, as well as report outages, here.

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City recreation facilities and libraries closed

Due to poor travel conditions and power outages, the City of Winnipeg closed all recreation facilities and libraries on Friday at 2 p.m.

Those closures remain in effect for Saturday, October 12. Courses and classes at these facilities are also cancelled.

The City says they will provide an update later today.

Emergency response

Response times are being monitored and additional resources will be placed on duty if necessary, the City of Winnipeg says.

Over a 24 hour period from Thursday to Friday afternoon, the WFPS responded to over 342 service calls for problems related to hydro lines, including two structure fires. WFPS has experienced more than double its normal call volume in that span, receiving over 750 calls for assistance.

Residents are reminded to stay away from damaged or downed power lines, and to contact 911 immediately. WFPS is working collaboratively with Manitoba Hydro to answer any power and utility line calls.

Residents can assist in keeping their families safe by reviewing winter safety tips and emergency preparedness tips at City of Winnipeg - EmergWeb.

Traffic

Mayor Brian Bowman has asked Winnipeggers to stay off roads for non-essential travel.

Dozens of intersections in the city remain without traffic control lights due to power outages. Intersections without lights or flashing red are to be treated as all-way stops.

The City has been applying salt and sand to major routes as well as carrying out plowing.

City transit experienced significant delays on Friday. Transit users should give themselves plenty of extra time on Saturday

Highways

Several major highways remain closed Saturday morning.

The Trans-Canada Highway is closed from Headingley to Highway 21 west of Brandon as of 8 a.m.

Highway 75 is closed from Winnipeg south to the U.S. border as of 8 a.m.

Find the rest of the closures and up to the minute highway information here.

Most other highways that are still open in southern Manitoba are snow-covered. Visibility is also reduced in many areas as windspeeds gust to 60+ km/h.

Non-essential travel is not advised throughout much of the south.

Blue Bombers game

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Montreal Alouettes play at 3 p.m. at IG Field.

Coach Mike O'Shea says the weather is perfect, but for those getting to the game it could provide some headaches depending on road conditions by early afternoon.

Park and ride information for transportation options can be found here.