Nova Scotia Power Activated Emergency Operations Centre

Halifax, NS – Nova Scotia Power has activated its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) as of 6 AM this morning.

“Crews have been working throughout the night to restore power for customers, and we have hundreds of people in the field today working in challenging conditions to get the power back on,” said Pam Scully-Poirier, Nova Scotia Power Storm Lead. “The heavy snowfall has brought down trees and branches onto powerlines and also resulted in heavy build up on power equipment, causing outages.”

The EOC provides a central place to coordinate planning for outage restoration and response. It is staffed with employees from all parts of the company focused on storm response efforts. The team will also be working closely with the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office (EMO).

“Road conditions have been a challenge already and slowing our ability to get to sites to restore power,” says Scully-Poirier. “We appreciate the collaboration with our partners at EMO and the hard-working crews out clearing the heavy snowfall from the roads so our crews can get to where they need to go.”

Estimated times for power restoration can be found on our outage map at outagemap.nspower.ca. We do our best to give an estimate of when the power will be restored; once our crews get to the site and assess what’s going on those estimates are updated. That’s why we encourage everyone to watch the outage map for the latest information. Customers can also call us on our outage line at 1-877-428-6004.

Quick Facts: Heavy Snow

• The extra weight of snow and ice on trees can cause them to bring down power lines, break poles, and/or damage equipment, which can also create safety issues for crews restoring power.
• Heavy wet snow and ice can also create significant damage in a small area, which can slow restoration work.
• If a customer’s electrical equipment is damaged, such as a meter mast, they’ll need a certified electrician to make repairs before we can safely restore power.

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