A man stranded in the bush in northern Saskatchewan was rescued last week after chopping down four power poles — knocking out electricity to surrounding communities.

The incident left several hundred people in Wollaston Lake and Hatchet Lake Denesuline Nation without power for more than 30 hours, but it paved the way for a man to be saved by a SaskPower crew.

“He was found under his boat in a very distressed state, so essentially he was stranded for a number of days and just desperate for people to know where he was,” SaskPower spokesman James Parker said.

The man reported he had been on a boat on the lake when he hit bad weather. He ended up stranded in the bush, with no way to communicate with the outside world, Parker said.