Environment

Thousands left without power in Maritimes after New Year Blizzard

by Amy Judd | January 2, 2009 at 11:54 am

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After the blizzard that hit the Maritimes on New Years Day, many residents were digging themselves out and waiting for their power to be restored after the snow and high winds knocked it out. Thousands of residents are still in the dark and flights have been grounded and travel is interrupted at a number of airports in the region.

About 49 centimetres of snow fell at the Charlottetown airport, but in nearby Nova Scotia 11,000 people are without power, and by this morning, it was recorded that about 7,000 to 8,500 people are still without power, and blizzard warnings are still in effect for the Cape Breton Highlands.

”The weather has to be quite adverse before it can stop us,” said Glennie Langille, a spokeswoman for the utility.

”High winds are probably the biggest problem for us in trying to respond. We either have whiteouts or, if we have gusts about 90 kilometres per hour, it's unsafe to put the bucket trucks up in the air.”

Ms. Langille said that about 100 power crews were working and that the utility hoped to have most customers reconnected by late morning.

About 6,000 people were without power at the beginning of last week in the same area, and then a few days later, more than 40,000 people were left without power in area. On Christmas Day, more than 8,000 people lost power after winds brought down trees, branches and power lines.

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azzayindia

at 07:14 on January 3rd, 2009

And we are still waiting for snow

azzayindia

at 07:15 on January 3rd, 2009

well i can imagine what it mean without power during winters.once in 1990 due to heavy snow the power came after 7 days.The heavy snow caused the poles to bend and snap the electricity wire.

Uwe Paschen

at 07:35 on January 3rd, 2009

There are a lot over power failures through out North America over the past 2 weeks due to hard winter condition. It almost seems more then the norm and I do not know the exact statistics on that.

crane trucks (not verified)

at 12:05 on March 20th, 2009

i know what its like to be without power i wentt 2 weeks without power when those nasty hurricanes came through florida back in 2004 but i didnt have to worry about heat or being traped in the snow so i guess i dont know exactly what your going through but i do know what its like to be without power.