Nova Scotia Power Responding to Tropical Storm Lee

HALIFAX – Tropical storm Lee continues to batter Nova Scotia creating dangerous conditions across the province.

The tropical storm force winds have brought down trees and knocked out power to over 100,000 customers as of 8:30am, many in the western part of the province (South Shore, Tri-County and Annapolis Valley) and the metro area. Winds have reached over 100km/hour in parts of the west and over 90 km/hour in downtown Halifax.

“Crews have been able to restore power to some customers early this morning, however, conditions are getting worse. In many cases, especially when winds are above 80 km/h, it isn’t safe for our crews to be up in the buckets, so we focus on assessing damage and restoring power from the ground where possible,” said Matt Drover, NS Power Storm Lead. “The safety of our customers, contractors and employees is always our priority. We encourage everyone to stay safe as this storm continues to move across the province.”

Tropical storm force winds are expected to last throughout the day and overnight Saturday. As Lee continues to move across the province, accessing affected areas may also become a challenge for crews in light of localized flooding and dangerous driving conditions from high winds and debris.

There are over 600 people in the field, including powerline technicians, forestry workers and damage assessors, and hundreds more working behind the scenes to support customers and crews.

“We know how challenging losing your power can be. We want customers to know our crews are working to restore power as soon as it’s safe to do so,” said Drover.

Customers are encouraged to keep an eye on our outage map at http://outagemap.nspower.ca for the latest information and estimated restoration times. We do our best to give an estimate of when the power will be restored and once our crews get to the site and assess what’s going on those estimates will be updated.

For more information on restoration phases visit: http://nspower.ca/storm.

QUICK FACTS:

• If winds are over 80km an hour, crews will stand down until it’s safe to get back up in the buckets.

• 80km/hour winds can weaken branches/limbs on trees which can come down later.

• 90km/hour winds can start taking whole trees down.

• 100km+/hour can take multiple trees in one location down.

• If you come across downed wires, please stay back, don’t try to move them yourself. Call us and report it right away (1-877-428-6004).

• Customers can find a full list of safety tips at www.nspower.ca/stormready