A farming implement damaged a hydro pole near Brunkild Sunday night. To replace it, Manitoba Hydro had to cut power to nearly 10,000 customers in the Morden/Winkler area for a few minutes Monday morning around 10 a.m.

MB Hydro's Bruce Owen explains a large piece of ag equipment came into contact with a 115kV pole near Brunkild at 3:30 a.m Sunday.

"The pole could've come down at any time and take that entire transmission line out of service, so the decision was made to, in a sequence of switching events... to take that line out of service," Owen says.

Service was down for four minutes on Monday morning, allowing crews to repair the line.

He reminds producers to be wary of hydro lines, taking the proper precautions such as taking out an agricultural equipment move permit when power lines need to be raised. "Only we can do that," Owen says.

He notes many power lines were installed in the 1960's. Since that time farm equipment has only grown.

Photo courtesy MB Hydro