{"id":229999,"date":"2019-09-08T21:39:41","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T01:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=229999"},"modified":"2025-01-12T17:53:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T22:53:53","slug":"beast-of-a-storm-dorian-knocks-out-power-to-much-of-the-maritimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/09\/08\/beast-of-a-storm-dorian-knocks-out-power-to-much-of-the-maritimes\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Beast of a storm&#8217; Dorian knocks out power to much of the Maritimes"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">If you see a downed line, remember to stay back and report it to us at 1-877-428-6004. Please call 911 if there is immediate danger such as fire. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DorianNS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DorianNS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tHkL3ePFXL\">pic.twitter.com\/tHkL3ePFXL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Nova Scotia Power (@nspowerinc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nspowerinc\/status\/1170728829888999425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 8, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>HALIFAX \u2014 Though it wasn&#8217;t a full-fledged hurricane when it made landfall in Nova Scotia, the hurricane-force winds from post-tropical storm Dorian caused extensive damage to the electric grids in all three Maritime provinces over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>At one point, about 500,000 homes and businesses in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. were left in the dark as Dorian flattened trees and ravaged property across the region.<\/p>\n<p>By late Sunday, that number had dropped considerably, but the full extent of the damage was still unknown.<\/p>\n<p>In Halifax, the CEO of Nova Scotia Power Inc. said the utility was facing a huge task in reconnecting customers as the brawny storm moved away from the province and on to western Newfoundland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an exercise of days, not hours,\u201d Karen Hutt told a news conference. \u201cWe&#8217;re operating in our worst-case scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A utility spokeswoman confirmed that with more than 400,000 customers without power as of Sunday morning, 80 per cent of Nova Scotia&#8217;s homes and businesses were blacked out \u2014 the highest number of outages in the company&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n<p>In Prince Edward Island, about 75 per cent of homes and businesses had no electricity by Sunday afternoon, according to the province&#8217;s Public Safety Department.<\/p>\n<p>One utility spokeswoman described Dorian as a \u201cbeast of a storm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, widespread blackouts affecting up to 80,000 NB Power customers were reported in southern New Brunswick and along the province&#8217;s Acadian Peninsula.<\/p>\n<p>Though Dorian made landfall just west of Halifax as a post-tropical storm on Saturday night, the large storm battered a huge swath of the Maritimes with sustained winds reaching almost 150 kilometres per hour in some areas, putting the storm&#8217;s power on par with a Category 2 hurricane.<\/p>\n<p>Though utility crews were fanning out to complete repairs Sunday, Hutt said the repair work in Nova Scotia would stretch into next week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are still in a very dangerous situation in some parts of the province,\u201d she said, adding that the utility had crews aboard four helicopters surveying the damage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen there is a downed power line, do not take any chances at all. Immediately call 911 and we will dispatch one of our crews to take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hutt asked those without power to be patient, saying she understood many people were frustrated by the company&#8217;s inability to promise specific repair deadlines.<\/p>\n<p>She said additional crews had been called in from Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Florida and Maine.<\/p>\n<p>Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil praised the utility for its response to Dorian.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey&#8217;ve done a tremendous job of dispersing their technicians across the province,\u201d he said from his home in the Annapolis Valley.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, emergency officials in Nova Scotia were urging people to stay home, but it was clear many weren&#8217;t listening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll the people who are lined up on the roads waiting for coffee, they are actually impeding our crews from getting out there,\u201d said Erica Fleck, Halifax&#8217;s assistant chief of community risk reduction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can&#8217;t clear the roads unless we can get to them, and 300 cars at drive-thrus in different locations is stopping our progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heavy traffic was reported in parts of Halifax as gawkers headed downtown to have a look at a construction crane that had collapsed into an empty apartment building still under construction. Others wanted to see the city&#8217;s slightly mangled waterfront boardwalk, or the other apartment complex with a missing roof.<\/p>\n<p>At least four homes in Halifax also lost their roofs. Many others were damaged by upended trees.<\/p>\n<p>About 300 soldiers from Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in central New Brunswick were expected to help with cleaning up debris and restoring electricity on Sunday afternoon, a military official confirmed.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> buy xenical online <a href=\"https:\/\/www.delineation.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/jpg\/xenical.html\">https:\/\/www.delineation.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/jpg\/xenical.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n<p> Another 400 \u201cimmediate reaction forces\u201d were on standby.<\/p>\n<p>Across the region, residents got to work cleaning up Dorian&#8217;s mess.<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Elias, 85, stood in the hallway of his home on his quiet residential street, looking outside at the aged oak tree that had toppled onto the house where he&#8217;s lived for 25 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were sitting down by the window and we heard a big bang,\u201d he recalled. \u201cIt&#8217;s kind of hard to go outside the front door because there are branches all over it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the east side of Halifax harbour, Dartmouth resident Ronnie Van Dommelen said his home lost power on Saturday night when a large tree fell over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt went down and pulled down my power and my neighbour&#8217;s power,\u201d he said, surveying the wires, which were pulled tight toward his front lawn at a sharp angle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sound of the wind was like a continuous howl that would get worse every once in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In New Brunswick, crews worked through the night to restore power, transit services were delayed in Moncton on Sunday morning and many intersections were without working traffic lights.<\/p>\n<p>Officials in Saint John, N.B., urged citizens to keep their distance from fallen trees in the town&#8217;s historic King&#8217;s Square, which have \u201cdeep historical relevance and significance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Newfoundland, hurricane and tropical storm warnings remained in effect for much of the province&#8217;s west and north coasts. On the western side of the island, Dorian continued to tear up trees and yank down power lines.<\/p>\n<p>In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Dorian&#8217;s winds battered Quebec&#8217;s Iles-de-la-Madeleine, where gusts of up to 120 km\/m ripped roofs off buildings, uprooted trees and knocked out power to much of the island chain.<\/p>\n<p>At one point, over 7,000 homes were without power \u2014 representing nearly all of Hydro-Quebec&#8217;s customers there.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> buy strattera online <a href=\"https:\/\/www.delineation.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/jpg\/strattera.html\">https:\/\/www.delineation.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/jpg\/strattera.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Environment Canada said the islands could expect \u201cstorm to hurricane force winds\u201d and heavy rainfall that would gradually diminish as Dorian headed toward Newfoundland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you see a downed line, remember to stay back and report it to us at 1-877-428-6004. Please call 911 &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":230003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,54365,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-instagram","category-news","mauthors-michael-macdonald","mauthors-michael-tutton","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229999"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282957,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229999\/revisions\/282957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}