Major power outage hits Saskatoon

Streets lights were knocked out in downtown Saskatoon Saturday after a major power outage affected the city's west side.

Street lights were out in downtown Saskatoon and most residents on the city’s west side were without power Saturday evening.

A major power outage that lasted several hours affected nearly 20 neighbourhoods, according to the city’s Twitter account.

Power was out downtown and in Caswell Hill, City Park, Holiday Park, Hudson Bay Park, Kelsey-Woodlawn, King George, Mayfair, Meadowgreen, Montgomery Place, Mount Royal, North Park, Riversdale, Westmount, Westview and several industrial neighbourhoods.

The city said areas powered by certain substations were affected.

“There is an issue with the City power supply for 7 sub-stations, affecting west side neighbourhoods within Circle Dr.,” the city tweeted.

The outage knocked out the city’s website, phone lines and service alert system — a system that notifies residents via text and email of emergencies, power outages, etc.

The city’s Twitter account blamed the snowy weather — more specifically, ice — for the outage.

“We isolated two locations affected by icing. Substations and power slowly coming back online,” one tweet read.

Power was restored in some areas around 7 p.m.