‘The entire nation was just black’: Power line repaired after ‘scary’ outage in northern Man.

Manitoba Hydro says repairs are complete after a downed power line left a remote Manitoba First Nation in the dark earlier this week.

Manitoba Hydro says repairs are complete after a downed power line left a remote Manitoba First Nation in the dark earlier this week.

The Crown corporation said Friday that power is gradually being restored to Pimicikamak (Cross Lake) First Nation, which had been without electricity since the line failed on Sunday, leading to a local state of emergency due to the extreme cold conditions.

Hydro said the restoration of power is happening gradually in the community to avoid overloading the system.

The broken power line ran between a pair of islands in the Nelson River, and Hydro’s Peter Chura told Global Winnipeg on Thursday that the ice wasn’t thick enough for vehicles to be safely supported.

“(It) was a major undertaking,” he said. “A 300-metre stretch of cable between two islands and a river … we had to use helicopter crews outside in -30 degree weather for two full days.

“Very difficult work…. We’re very proud of our crews and the work they did, and were able to do it safely and successfully.”

Chura said the plan to gradually return power is to avoid overloading the system.

“Now that the cable is repaired, we can start re-energizing the community, but we can’t do it all at once,” he said.