Thousands of Manitoba Hydro customers across southern Manitoba were without power overnight due to severe thunderstorms. We have heard of lengthy outages in the Marchand and Landmark areas where service has since been restored.

Scott Powell of Manitoba Hydro says their system took a big hit.

"We had a very busy evening. At peak, we had approximately 17,000 customers off across southern Manitoba overnight. Crews have been work at restoration through the overnight hours. We're continuing to make progress but in some cases, we've discovered that the storm has really done a number to some of our overhead wires and it's going to take some time to get those repairs completed."

Powell adds they hope to have power fully restored by early to mid-afternoon Friday.