Thousands of people were without power Wednesday evening in central and northern Alberta, including the Edmonton area, as strong winds lash the region. Hundreds of confirmed and unconfirmed outages were affecting more than 10,000 customers, according to online maps from Fortis Alberta and ATCO, which supply power to much of the region. In and around Athabasca, about 135 kilometres north of Edmonton, 6,250 Fortis customers were without power. In Boyle, about 125 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, 1,788 customers were without power, while another 1,946 customers were in the dark east of the town toward Lac La Biche. Crews were working to restore power. About 2,000 customers in Strathcona County, north and south of Cooking Lake, had power restored as of 5:30 p.m. A wind warning is in effect for Edmonton and much of north-central Alberta. Gusts in the city have ranged from 50 to 75 kilometres per hour through much of the afternoon, while weather stations just outside Edmonton have reported gusts of 80 to 95 km/h. CTV News Edmonton contacted Fortis for more information but had not heard back as of Wednesday night. Other outages include: ATCO supplies much of northern Alberta, as well as part of east-central Alberta, including Lloydminster, Bonnyville, Vegreville and St. Paul. Among its confirmed outages, 110 customers on the south shore of Lesser Slave Lake near Kinuso are without power, along with 89 customers near Wapiti, south of Grande Prairie. The gusty conditions are expected to continue into Wednesday evening before tapering off overnight. Edmonton and area will see calmer conditions Thursday morning before gusts return to around 30 kilometres per hour in the afternoon. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Josh Classen
