NS Power: Hurricane Fiona Update

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NS Power: Hurricane Fiona Update

Crews continue assessing damage caused by the significant winds from Hurricane Fiona and restoring power to customers across the province.  About 415,000 customers lost power during Fiona, as of noon today more than 230,000 have been restored.

“While progress is being made there is still a lot of difficult work ahead,” said Matt Drover, NS Power Storm Lead.  “We’ve been able to start getting a better look at some of those hardest hit areas with drones and helicopters and it is reinforcing how widespread the damage is.”

Some of that damage includes:

  • thousands of trees on power lines
  • hundreds of broken or leaning poles due to downed trees
  • downed transformers
  • fallen trees blocking roads

Many of these repairs are complex, take longer, and require multiple steps before power can be safely restored.  In some cases:  

  • trees have to be removed to access streets
  • debris has to be removed from power lines
  • new equipment or material has to be brought in
  • once the area is cleaned up the broken poles and/or other electrical equipment can start to be repaired or entirely rebuilt

NS POWER VIDEO AND PHOTOS:

  • Photos of damage/crews working across the province

QUICK FACTS:

  • people behind the scenes working to support our customers and crews.  Additional crews are coming from New England, Ontario and Quebec.
  • There are still lots of lines and wires down.  Please treat them as if they are energized. Stay back and call us and report it right away (1-877-428-6004).
  • If a customer’s electrical equipment is damaged – such as a meter mast – they need a certified electrician to make repairs before NS Power can safely restore power.  A list of electrical contractors can be found in the link provided.

WESTERN (Annapolis Valley/Yarmouth/South Shore)

  • The winds in this region were above warning levels exceeding 90km/hr.
  • Restoration efforts in the western region of the province started overnight Friday into Saturday.
  • The main cause of outages in the region is trees coming into contact with power lines.
  • There are over 100 people on the ground in this region including power line technicians, forestry technicians and damage assessors.
  • Over 50,000 customers have been affected in western.  As of 8am today (Monday), 95% of customers in the west have been restored.

NORTHEAST (Truro/Pictou/Amherst/Antigonish/Guysborough)

  • At the peak of the storm, winds reached 150km/hr (early Saturday morning).
  • High winds continued throughout Saturday which prevented our crews from restoring power for the majority of the day.  Restoration in this region started Saturday evening when it was safe to do so.
  • Damage in this region is due primarily to broken poles, trees on power lines, downed lines due to falling trees and trees on roads limiting access and making travel difficult for our crews.
  • There are over 300 people on the ground in the Northeast including power line technicians, forestry technicians and damage assessors.  More people are coming today and tomorrow.
  • About 90,000 customers have been affected in this region.  As of 8am today (Monday), 30% of customers in the Northeast have been restored.

HRM (Halifax/Dartmouth/Sackville/Bedford/Windsor/Musquodoboit/Chester)

  • At peak of the storm, winds reached 110km/hr at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport (early Saturday morning).
  • High winds continued throughout the morning Saturday which prevented our crews from restoring power until lunchtime (Saturday). 
  • During that time crews were removing wires from cars and roads and responding to emergency calls and assessing damage on the ground.
  • Damage in HRM is due primarily to trees coming into contact with power lines, downed lines due to falling trees and trees on roads limiting access and making travel difficult for our crews.
  • There are about 300 people on the ground in HRM including power line technicians, forestry technicians and damage assessors.
  • About 210,000 customers have been affected in this region.  As of 8am (Monday), 80% of customers in HRM have been restored.

CAPE BRETON

  • The most significant damage was in the eastern part of the province including the Eastern Shore and Cape Breton.
  • At the peak of the storm, winds reached 140km/hr (early Saturday morning) with winds above warning levels for 14 hours.
  • Significant winds prevented our crews from restoring power for the majority of the day.  Restoration started Saturday evening.
  • During that time crews were removing wires from cars and roads and responding to emergency calls and assessing damage on the ground.
  • Damage in Cape Breton is due primarily to hundreds of broken poles, trees on power lines, downed lines due to falling trees, washed out roads limiting access and making it difficult for our crews to move around.
  • There are over 300 people on the ground in Cape Breton including power line technicians, forestry technicians and damage assessors.
  • More than 65,000 customers have been affected in this region.  As of 8am (Monday), 40% of customers in Cape Breton have been restored.
  • More resources were added to our satellite Emergency Operations Centre in Sydney.  It is a second command centre, where we continue to coordinate plans and resources for Cape Breton.

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About Nova Scotia Power

Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Emera Inc. (TSX-EMA), a diversified energy and services company. Nova Scotia Power provides 95% of the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical power to more than 525,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers across Nova Scotia. The company is focused on new technologies to enhance customer service and reliability, reduce emissions and add renewable energy. Nova Scotia Power has over 1,700 employees and $4.1 billion in operating assets. Learn more at www.nspower.ca.


Media Contact:

Jacqueline Foster

NSP Senior Communications Advisor 902-225-4735

Jacqueline.foster@nspower.ca

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