Storm Hits Rainy River District

As many as 500 Hydro One customers lost power for several hours last night in several locations across the Rainy River district resulting from a storm passing through the area.

It brought down hydro lines and trees across the district.

There were reports the storm bringing tennis-ball sized hail and wind gusts topping 100 kilometres an h our in some parts of northwestern Ontario.

Most who lost power had it restored by midnight.

Hydro One was still reporting outages in the Seine River First Nations, Dawson Township and Berglund areas as of 9 a.m. this morning.


New temperature records were set before the rain came down.

Fort Frances hit 33 C, or 91 F, shattering the old mark by  2-full degrees set in 2003 and again in 2010.

Atikokan reached 31.6 C, but just short of its 1966 record.

Tug Of War Rained Out

The late afternoon storm also forcing a cancellation of the Pulling for Peace Tug of War between Fort Frances and International Falls.

The event won't be rescheduled

Fort councillor Rick Wiedenhoeft says the rules dictate the championship trophy to be decided by a coin flip involving Mayors on either side of the border.

But according to WDIO-TV in Duluth, American officials are letting Fort Frances keep the title for another year.

MNR Watching For Forest Fires Starts

The Ministry of Natural Resources will be on the watch for new lightning-caused fires this week.

Scattered lightning was recorded throughout the Rainy River district on the weekend.

Officials say they have fire crews on high alert in anticipation of new starts.

The district did have two fires on the weekend.

A lightning caused fire near Hook Island, that started Thursday, and a human caused fire Sunday, north of Morson, are both out.

Dragon Boats A Success

The first ever Dragon Boat festival is being hailed a huge success.

A team representing Association for Community Living Fort Frances beat out eight other teams for the crown in the Boundary Waters Dragon Boat Festival July 1st.

Organizer Jenny Greenhalgh says they're now looking at how to use the boat obtained for the community can be used in other ways during the rest of the summer.

Surveillance Cameras Installed At Park

Fort Frances Lions Club has been install surveillance cameras to keep an eye on their park investment.

Co-president Bud Danlychuk says incidents of vandalism, especially at the fountain, forced the move.

The Club received money from the Moffat Foundation to aid in the camera's purchase.

Break In Investigated

OPP looking into a break-in at a cabin in the area of Crow Rock Inlet on Rainy Lake.

Police says the cabin was entered sometime between May 13 and 16th.

A Honda generator was taken.

Person Struck By Train

A woman is recovering in hopsital after being struck by a train last week in the Dryden area.

OPP says the 20-year-old suffered injuries to her right leg and right hand.

Fort Couple Wins Cash Draw, Twice

A Fort Frances couple came out a double winner on Canada Day.

Ray and Helen Cousineau won both the Grand Prize draw of  $10-thousand dollars in Riverside Foundation for Health Care's Cash Lottery, and the 2nd place prize of $2-thousand.

Mary Cooper took third place money of one-thousand dollars.

Betty Godin, Gary and Lori Durbin, Doreen Fryer and Renee Dumeney each won $500.00.

All proceeds from the draw are used to support Riverside's hospitals and long-term care facilities.

Riverside?CMHA Confirm Partnership

Riverside Health Care and the Canadian Mental Health Association in Fort Frances are formally committing to working together to improve access to the mental health care in the area.

They've signed a memorandum of understanding, Riverside's president Allan Katz says continues the history the two organizations have shared.

The Association's Sheila Shaw says the partnership ensures there's protocols and consistencies how clients get service.

Mini Queens Make Donation

There's some royal help to Riverside Foundation's for Health Care's campaign to raise money for a new digitial mammography unit.

The Foundation received $157.00 from this year's Mini Queen Serena Cousineau and last year's title holder Piper Lidkea.

The young girls raised the money by selling lemonade at yesterday's Fort Frances Downtown Business Improvement Association's mall days.

It helps the Foundation towards its goal of raising $650-thousand.