Crews continue to work through the unprecedented damage caused by Fiona to restore power to customers. More than 1500 people continue to be on the ground making repairs to restore power, with the majority in the northeast region of the province as well as Cape Breton. These are the areas that experienced the most significant damage in last week’s hurricane force winds.
More than a week after Fiona caused unprecedented damage to many parts of Nova Scotia, crews continue to working day and night to remove trees, repair and rebuild power lines, poles and other damaged equipment, in order to get the lights back on. While progress is being made, these repairs are proving to be multi-layered and complex. As a result, some customers in areas such as the Eastern Shore, Truro, New Glasgow, Antigonish, Amherst and the North Shore, saw their estimated restoration times change Sunday night.
“It’s important to share information with our customers as soon as we can, even when we know the information is hard to hear,” said Lia MacDonald Northeast Emergency Operations Centre Lead for NS Power. “Please know that we are working as safely and as quickly as we can to get your power back on.”
Due to some of the more extreme damage in the hardest hit areas of the province, repairs and restorations are requiring more crews and more time to complete and can take several crews and several hours – even up to a day – to complete.
“We know how challenging it is to be without power for this long,” said Mark Sidebottom, Cape Breton Emergency Operations Centre Lead for NS Power. “We update our estimates based on the information we get from the field and when a change is necessary, we let customers know as soon as possible.”
About 415,000 people lost power at the peak of the storm. As of this morning (Monday), more than 390,000 customers have been restored. We encourage customers to watch the outage map for the latest information on their outage: outagemap.nspower.ca
QUICK FACTS:
- Approximately 2,300 customers have had their meter masts damaged during Fiona – about four times the number compared to Dorian. We have a team in customer care dedicated to working directly with these customers and supporting them through the repair process.
- 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 link provided.
- In addition to the provincial Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in Halifax, there are two satellite EOCs in Truro and Sydney where we continue to coordinate local plans and resources for the regions.
- Be aware of downed power lines. For your own safety please treat them as if they are energized. Stay back the length of a bus and call us and report it right away (1-877-428-6004).
- United Ways in Halifax, Northeastern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton launched the United Hurricane Relief Fund, powered by a $250,000 investment from Emera Inc. and Nova Scotia Power. The fund will provide immediate relief funding to help community agencies supporting those most impacted by Hurricane Fiona. United Ways in Cape Breton, Pictou County and Halifax Regional Municipality are coordinating distribution of funds with their funded partners. More information can be found in the joint news release here.
NORTHEAST (Truro/Pictou County/Amherst/Antigonish/Guysborough)
- Over 900 people are on the ground in the northeast region including power line technicians, forestry technicians, damage assessors and field support.
- Since yesterday, there are 100 more people in the region supporting restoration. As power is restored in one area, we continue to move crews into this hardest hit area of the province.
- All hospitals and critical infrastructure have been restored. Our crews continue to focus on areas with extensive damage including the Eastern Shore, Truro, Pictou County, Antigonish, Amherst, North Shore.
- Our satellite Emergency Operations Centre in Truro continues to coordinate plans/resources for the Northeast region of the province.
- Together with the Canadian Armed Forces, the staging site in Pictou County is supporting restoration efforts. This is where we coordinate and dispatch crews – a one stop shop for materials, fuel and food.
- The Canadian Armed Forces and Department of Natural Resources personnel are in the region helping crews remove trees and brush and running supplies.
- Damage in this region is due primarily to broken poles and downed lines due to falling trees, trees on power lines, and trees on roads limiting access and making travel difficult for our crews.
- About 90,000 customers have been affected in this region. As of this morning (Monday), approximately 82% of customers in the northeast who lost power from the impacts of the hurricane have been restored.
CAPE BRETON
- Over 500 people are on the ground in Cape Breton, including powerline technicians, forestry technicians, damage assessors and field support.
- All industrial parks and major centres in Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) now have power.
- There are parts of neighborhoods as well as individual customers throughout CBRM that are still out due to extensive damage. We have crews going street to street to assess and restore power in these areas.
- Our satellite Emergency Operations Centre in Cape Breton continues to coordinate plans/resources for CB.
- The staging site in Sydney supports our restoration efforts. This is where we coordinate and dispatch crews – a one stop shop for materials, fuel and food.
- The Canadian Armed Forces and Department of Natural Resources personnel are on the ground in Cape Breton helping crews remove trees and brush and running supplies.
- Damage in Cape Breton is due primarily to hundreds of broken poles and downed lines due to falling trees, trees on power lines. Washed out roads have limited access and made it difficult for our crews to move around.
- More than 65,000 customers have been affected in this region. As of today (Monday), approximately 93% of customers in Cape Breton who lost power from the impacts of the hurricane have been restored.
HRM (Halifax/Dartmouth/Sackville/Bedford/Windsor/Musquodoboit/Chester)
- Damage in HRM has been due primarily to trees coming into contact with power lines, downed lines due to falling trees and trees on roads limiting and making travel difficult for our crews.
- More than 210,000 customers have been affected in this region. As of this morning (Monday) there are approximately 250 customers to be restored.
- These are more complex restorations that take much longer and require multiple crews.
Media Contact:
Jacqueline Klaus
NSP Communications Advisor
jacqueline.klaus@nspower.ca
902.233.6015 (media line)
