Power restored for thousands of customers in northwestern Saskatchewan

A massive electricity outage in northwest Saskatchewan was the result of acollapsed high-voltage power line, according to SaskPower.

Thousands of people unexpectedly lost power around 5 a.m. CST Thursday. When SaskPower workers discovered the problem area two hours later, they found power poles had been burned and broken.

The area affected by the outage started just north of the Battlefordsand stretched 400 kilometres toLa Loche, Other affected spots includeBeauval, IIe-a-la-Crosse, Buffalo Narrows, Dillon and TurnorLake.

Heavy equipment was needed to repair the line, adding to the project's time frame.

Power wasrestored by 5 p.m.