Emergency management officials say residents who lost power during Saturday night’s damaging wind storm should prepare for a “long restoration period”.
As of 2 p.m. Sunday, NB Power reported 1,324 outages affecting more than 82,000 customers — down from more than 105,000 customers at the peak.
“It’s mostly trees on the lines,” Sheila Lagacé, a spokesperson for NB Power, told our newsroom on Sunday morning.
Lagacé said wind gusts surpassing 110 kilometres per hour have made it more difficult to repair the outages.
“Our crews were out [Saturday night] to restore anything that was very urgent,” she said, “but we’re also waiting for the situation to be safe for them to be able to go and restore the power in a safe manner.”
We over 120 crews on the ground across #NB working to restore power and 29 damage assessors. We appreciate your patience as they complete their work. Preliminary restoration estimates will be updated on https://t.co/qyGRAtW91T once damage assessments are complete. pic.twitter.com/rdlwp8reuQ
— NB Power (@NB_Power) November 4, 2018
Lagacé said the work has begun and restoration estimates will be posted online as crews assess the damage.
“While most customers will be restored over the next 24-48 hours, it is possible that some customers will be without power for as long as 72 hours,” the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization said in a news release on Sunday afternoon.
More than 3,500 Saint John Energy customers were without power, but crews have since restored electricity to all but 157 customers in the Westfield Road area.
The crews are on site restoring power in the back lots off the Westfield Rd. Their estimated restoration time is late afternoon. Thank you for your patience.
— Saint John Energy (@SJENERGY) November 4, 2018
Meanwhile, 16,000 customers in the Greater Moncton area are without power as of 8 a.m. Sunday.
According to Environment Canada, Bouctouche recorded the highest wind gust at 119 km/h.
The Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport reported a wind gust of 109 km/h, the Fredericton International Airport saw a gust of 96 km/h, and the Saint John Airport registered a wind gust of 82 km/h.
Miramichi reported a wind gust of 100 km/h while Bathurst and Sussex each saw wind gusts of 93 km/h.
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Story by Brad Perry
Twitter: @BradMPerry
Email: perry.brad@radioabl.ca
(File photo)
