Several thousand Manitoba hydro customers were without power on Tuesday night and some into Wednesday morning.

Hydro spokesman Anthony Koop says the high winds caused tree branches to fall onto hydro lines and that was their main problem. "Crews were out Tuesday night to restore power to places like hospitals and seniors homes. They then move onto other areas to get people back on line."

Several communities such as Brandon, Boissevain, Carberry, Souris and Virden reported power outages.