Students will get another day off today and many households will remain in the dark in the wake of hurricane Dorian.
About 147,000 customers were in the dark across the province as of 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
In an update earlier in the afternoon, the utility said it had reduced estimated times of restoration for more than 100 large outages affecting 37,000 customers in Cape Breton and northeastern Nova Scotia.
“We expect to have power back for these customers by late Tuesday,” NSP said on its website. “Our damage assessors have also identified approximately 4,500 outages across the province that are single-customer outages. This means one repair will restore electricity to one customer. Estimated restoration times will be extended to Thursday for many of these customers.
“We know it’s frustrating and that customers want their power back as soon as possible — that’s what we want too. We’ll work closely with customers through this process.”
As the power outages exceed 48 hours, the Emergency Management office said Monday that food safety is now a concern. Information about food and water safety is available at http://novascotia.ca/emergency.
The EMO continued to urge people to use public transit when possible to facilitate cleanup operations.
Public schools across Nova Scotia will remain closed Tuesday, the Nova Scotia’s Education Department announced Monday afternoon after consulting with the Emergency Management Office.
Canada Post issued a “red alert” Monday that mail would not be delivered to metro Halifax. They will attempt to deliver mail and parcels to other parts of Nova Scotia and on P.E.I.
Halifax Transit resumed its normal schedule Monday morning including Access-a-bus and ferry operations. The service had been shut down since Saturday at noon.
Crews continue the work of removing downed trees across the Maritimes. In Halifax, the city said most main arteries on the peninsula were passable with caution.
“Members of the municipal urban forestry teams are busy identifying priority locations and crews, with support from contractors, are working to chip and remove downed trees, clean up debris, and replanting trees that can be saved,” a news release from Halifax Regional Municipality said.
“For safety reasons, residents are advised to not attempt to assist with clearing downed trees in the municipal right-of-way. Those trees will be handled by professional crews. However, residents are responsible for tree maintenance on their own properties.”
Provincial parks in Nova Scotia will be closed until at least Wednesday, when an update will be provided. Kejimkujik National Park, including the seaside adjunct, is also shuttered until at least Wednesday. Cape Breton Highlands National Park reopened Sunday with the exception of Broad Cove and Ingonish Beach campgrounds.
Cavendish Campground in P.E.I. National Park, which was extensively damaged with many tree falls in the storm, has been closed for the season, Parks Canada said Monday morning.
Roughly 60,000 Maritime Electric customers across P.E.I. lost power, a spokeswoman said. About 20,000 were still in the dark Monday morning, the company tweeted.
Dorian also swept through western Newfoundland, with strong winds reported around 1 p.m. Sunday. Power outages were noted across the province as the storm system moved its way northward along the coast, weakening as it progressed.
Helpful links:
