Saturday 24 December 2022

Almost 30,000 without power as storm moves through N.B.

 

Almost 30,000 without power as storm moves through N.B.

Wind and other warnings expected to last until early Saturday

Environment Canada said warnings for all regions of the province would likely be in effect until early Saturday.

There were four separate warnings out for Bathurst alone: snowfall, storm surge, wind and rain. Storm surge warnings were also place for the Bay of Chaleur from Miscou Island to Campbellton.

New Brunswick has had recent experiences with storm surges, like this one along the Northumberland Strait, during post-tropical storm Fiona. (Ed Hunter/CBC)

Environment Canada says water levels are expected to exceed "high astronomical tide, with water inundating vulnerable sections of the coastlines." The warning says coastal flooding, beach erosion, minor infrastructure damage and coastal road washouts are expected. 

According to the N.B. Power outage map, almost 29,450 customers were without power at about 8:30 p.m., up from about 3,000 in late afternoon. The outages were occurring in almost all parts of the province,

In southern New Brunswick, power lines were brought down at Woodmans Point, near Grand Bay-Westfield, and were lying across Route 102, which is now closed, the RCMP said.

Wind warnings are in effect for the whole province and rainfall warnings for central, southern and eastern regions.Some northeastern parts of the province were  expected to get up to 110 km/h winds.

The wind even took down a traffic light Friday afternoon in Saint John.

A truck next to a set of traffic lights.     A traffic light was blown off its pole during high winds in Saint John Friday afternoon. (Graham Thompson/CBC)

Flying? Keep an eye on the sky

Fredericton International Airport public relations manager Kate O'Rourke said the airport is always ready for poor weather, but it appeared it would get lucky with just a rainstorm.

Fredericton fared better than Saint John and Moncton, where a few flights were cancelled in the evening or early on Christmas Eve.

O'Rourke advised people to check their flight status before heading to the airport, since it's possible planes coming from other places in Canada, where the weather is worse, could change plans.

"The air network is a network," said O'Rourke. "Challenges at any airport can create those kind of knock-on effects, whether it's because a traveller is connecting through that airport, or whether the plane's coming from that airport. So definitely, you know, keep your eye on what's happening in the rest of the country."

A woman with a short red bob and a green shirt Fredericton International Airport public relations manager Kate O'Rourke said people should check their flight status before going to the airport because their plane could be coming from somewhere with bad weather. (Aniekan Etuhube/CBC)

All three of the major airports, Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton, had some flight cancellations. All of the cancelled flights involved planes that were supposed to come from Toronto. 

Air travel isn't the only travel that's been affected. The Confederation Bridge, which connects P.E.I. and New Brunswick, has restricted access to certain vehicles including those pulling trailers, motorcycles and high-sided vehicles like trucks, tractor-trailers and buses.

Travel not recommended in certain areas, police say

Slippery roads were reported in some areas, including Fredericton, where the forecast was mostly for rain and strong winds.

Early in the afternoon, New Brunswick RCMP tweeted that travel is not recommended on Route 2 between Upper Kingsclear and Bedell, as well as Route 95 between Woodstock and the United States border. The tweet said "driving conditions are extremely poor."

On the government of New Brunswick's 511 that shows road conditions and advisories across the province, Route 2 is listed as "covered." 

With files from Aniekan Etuhube

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14 Comments
 
 
 
Pete Parent
Crews have been hard at work all night because there were over 70 000 outages around midnight. Koodos to those crews out there hard at work restoring power when they too would probably prefer being home with their families on this Christmas Eve. 
 
 
 
 
David Amos
Methinks its time to light a fire and fire up the generator then hunker down with my dog again Perchance to dream of a Christmas Past when my kids were young N'esy Pas?
 
 
 
 
 
Joseph Godin 
Fredericton International Airport? SInce when is a flight to Montreal or Toronto considered international?  
 
 
Joseph Godin   
It's not that complicated really. Sorry you and DRA missed that meeting. 
 
 
David Amos
Nope
 
 
Clive Gibbons 
Joseph Godin 
It means that CBSA officers are available to check incoming flights there, if needed.  
 
 
 
 
 

Storm surge warnings in place across N.B., thousands still without power

Environment Canada warns of flooding, coastal road washouts

Environment Canada issued a storm surge warning in the Bay of Chaleur from Miscou Island to Campbellton. The warning says coastal flooding, beach erosion, minor infrastructure damage and coastal road washouts are expected. 

Water levels are expected to exceed "high astronomical tide, with water inundating vulnerable sections of the coastlines." 

Bare trees leaning to the side Wind warnings were in effect across the province Friday, but high winds subsided Saturday morning. (Graham Thompson/CBC)

According to the N.B. Power outage map, over 43,000 customers were without power as of 9 a.m. AT — up from about 30,000 on Friday night. Outages have been reported in almost all parts of the province.

In southern New Brunswick, power lines were brought down at Woodmans Point, near Grand Bay-Westfield, and were lying across Route 102, which is closed, RCMP said in a tweet Friday night.

Wind warnings are in effect for the whole province and rainfall warnings for central, southern and eastern regions. Some northeastern parts of the province were expected to get up to 110 km/h winds.

 
 

Power Restoration | Rétablissement du courant

NB Power | Énergie NB

<noreply-nepasrepondre@communication.nbpower.com>
Sun, Dec 25, 2022 at 2:11 PM
To: DAVID.RAYMOND.AMOS333@gmail.com

Power Restoration | Rétablissement du courant
 
web version | version web
 
Dear Customer,

It is important for us to share with you important information about the outages so that you may plan this holiday season.
 
Unfortunately, due to the number of incidents and the scope of impact customers are experiencing multi-day outages. Estimated times of restoration continue to be updated as we continue damage assessment and as field crews arrive on site. 
 
In the areas of greatest impact, the ETR is set for the entire community, resulting in an ETR currently set for December 27th. We want you to have the best information we have at this time. Please check your mobile device for updates as we continue assessing damages and refine our ETRs accordingly.
 
We want to extend our sincere appreciation for your patience. Having no power over the holiday season has no doubt impacted your plans with family and friends. 
 
We are here to serve you and will continue our restoration efforts safely and efficiently until all of our fellow New Brunswickers are restored. 
 
Sincerely,

Your Customer Service team at NB Power
 
Chère/Cher client,

Nous tenons à partager avec vous des renseignements importants sur les pannes afin que vous puissiez planifier vos activités en cette période des Fêtes.

Malheureusement, en raison du nombre de pannes individuelles et de l’ampleur des effets de la tempête, certains clients sont touchés par des pannes de plusieurs jours. Nous continuons à mettre à jour les délais de rétablissement prévus au fur et à mesure que nous évaluons les dégâts et que les équipes de terrain arrivent sur place. 

Dans les régions les plus touchées, le délai de rétablissement est établi pour l’ensemble de la communauté, ce qui fait que le délai de rétablissement prévu est actuellement le 27 décembre. Nous voulons que vous disposiez des renseignements les plus précis dont nous pouvons vous faire part à l’heure actuelle. Veuillez continuer de vérifier les délais de rétablissement à partir de votre appareil mobile, car nous continuons à évaluer les dommages et à affiner les délais de rétablissement en conséquence.

Nous tenons à vous remercier très sincèrement pour votre patience. Nous reconnaissons que le fait de ne pas avoir de courant pendant la période des Fêtes a sans doute perturbé vos activités avec votre famille et vos amis. 

Nous sommes là pour vous servir et nous poursuivons nos efforts de rétablissement de manière sûre et efficace jusqu’à ce que le courant soit rétabli pour tous nos concitoyens du Nouveau-Brunswick. 

Cordialement,

L’équipe du Service à la clientèle d’Énergie NB
 
 
Énergie NB Power
P.O. Box 2000, 515 King St | Fredericton NB, E3B 4X1
515 rue King, C.P. 2000, Succ A | Fredericton, (N.-B.) E3B 4X1
 
 
 
 

Thousands of customers still without power in N.B. Christmas Day

N.B. Power crews working to restore power for more than 3,000 customers still affected

More than 3,000 customers were without power as of 5:30 p.m. AT, according to the N.B. Power outage map. Peak outages on Saturday saw more than 71,000 customers lose power. 

Outages have been reported in almost all parts of the province, with Kent County and Madawaska County some of the areas more affected as of Sunday afternoon. 

N.B. Power spokesperson Marc Belliveau said there are more than 500 crew members and 30 contractors working on restoring the outages as quickly and safely as possible. Many customers can expect to get power back on or before Dec. 27, N.B. Power said in a tweet Sunday afternoon.

A truck tows a snow plow vehicle amid a winter storm.Winter storms hit most of Canada over the weekend. Environment Canada is warning of snow squalls in areas of New Brunswick throughout Sunday morning. (Carlos Osorio/Reuters)

"We understand that losing power is difficult any time of year but especially during the holidays," he said.

Belliveau said the holiday weekend's storm is one of the largest province-wide events New Brunswich has seen in 25 years, causing more than 650 invidual outage incidents.

Special weather statement in place

Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for the Fundy coast and along southeast New Brunswick at 3:30 a.m. AT.

Snow squalls are expected throughout Sunday morning and into the evening, the statement said. Roadways and walkways may become difficult to navigate and drivers should be prepared for "winter driving conditions."

Storm surge warnings ended across the province Saturday afternoon, Environment Canada said.

Storm surge warnings were in place most of the day Saturday in the Bay of Chaleur from Miscou Island to Campbellton. 

All other weather warnings or alerts in the province were lifted as of 5:30 p.m. AT Saturday.

  •  If the power or data on your device is low, get your storm updates on CBC Lite. It's our low-bandwidth, text-only website.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Safiyah Marhnouj is a reporter with CBC P.E.I. She is a 2022 Joan Donaldson scholar and recently graduated from Carleton University’s journalism program. You can reach her at safiyah.marhnouj@cbc.ca.

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45 Comments
 
 
 
Gary Mielke  
And our federal government wants us to drive EVs. This storm illustrates the ridiculousness of that. 
 
 
David Amos
Reply to Gary Mielke 
Yup  
 
 
 
Pete Parent
Koodos to the crews that were and are still out there reconnecting power over the holidays. It is no fun not having power for Christmas but im sure those workers would have rather been home with their families instead of climbing poles to reconnect people who are home with their families. And as for the comments somehow blaming this on NB Power, hey there are still people in Ont and Que that dont have power either. Its not the utilities companies fault that there was a storm of this scope!!!! 
 
 
Alex Butt 
Reply to Pete Parent 
The major issue of nb power is the failure of preventative maintenance. We have FAR too many outages in any weather, not just storms, and they take no accountability whatsoever. Their only concern is the almighty dollar, just like the irvings. 
 
 
Pete Parent
Reply to Alex Butt
And how do you prevent storms? im not saying that at times it is questionable, but to blame it on them when we are dealing with wind storms in a province that has lots of forests and trees then people have to expect that outages can happen.  
 
 
David Amos
Reply to Pete Parent
I concur
 
 
 
 
 
 
Buford Wilson 
I wonder if Hydro Quebec is still interested in buying Energie-NB-Power. 
 
 
Dan Lee 
Reply to Buford Wilson
hmmm seems i remember you being one who thought that was the worst idea.....
 
 
Buford Wilson  
Reply to Dan Lee 
(You must be thinking of somebody else, Dan.) 
 
 
David Amos
Reply to Buford Wilson
Dream on
 
 
 
 
 
Alex Butt
I understand New Brunswickers are allergic to any sort of change, but the the time has far come and gone to hold the government ant the clowns of nb power to account! They only care about themselves and making profits at any cost! They could not care less about the damage and hardships they cause as long as they are making money. The power goes out in any form of adverse weather, and new brunswickers think this is normal! WAKE UP! Time foe a major change! No more magic joi bean scandals and exorbitant wages! Time to hold these clowns responsible for their lack of action!  
 
 
Sam Smithers 
Reply to Alex Butt
NB Power has not made money in years.
 
 
Alex Butt 
Reply to Sam Smithers
typical new brunswick. Complete failure!  
 
 
Mike Bookman  
Reply to Alex Butt
Power goes out everywhere in North America with winter storms buddy, not just NB. Name one jurisdiction that did not get affected by power outages in Canada so far this year. Name one. 
 
 
Geoff MacDonald 
Reply to Alex Butt 
Such a ray of sunshine. NB Power may not be great but I'll surely take them over Emera (NS Power) and Maritime Electric any day of the week.  
 
 
rayma allaby
Reply to Alex Butt 
nb power likes being a monopoly...past time to get some competition.  
 
 
Hugh Smith 
Reply to Alex Butt 
I can see why not many people want to invest into New Brunswick. 
 
 
Alex Butt 
Reply to Mike Bookman 
Yes power goes out in storms, but I have lived in MANY parts of this country and NEVER had the quantity and duration of power outages as I have in this province! 
 
 
David Amos
Reply to Alex Butt 
When will we see your name on a ballot? 
 


 
 

Crews still working to restore power to over 1,100 N.B. Power customers

Outages concentrated in Carleton, Victoria and Madawaska counties

Just over 1,150 customers still had no electricity as of 3:30 p.m. Monday as a result of a storm that brought heavy wind and rain to the province on Friday.

Most of the 170 outages were concentrated in Carleton, Victoria and Madawaska counties, according to N.B. Power's online outage map.

Marc Belliveau, a spokesperson for the utility, said many of those outages were expected to be reconnected by about 11 p.m. on Monday, however some customers could still be without electricity on Tuesday.

"It's very difficult to say [when electricity will be restored] until we get into certain areas and start our work," Belliveau said.

"We always encourage people to go to our website and check the estimated times of restoration because they can change during the day depending on the complexity of repairs."

Belliveau said Friday's storm appears to be have been one of the worst N.B. Power has had to respond to in the past 25 years.

Whereas some recent storms like post-tropical storm Arthur caused damage in specific areas, Belliveau said Friday's storm impacted the entire province, resulting in more individual outages over a large area.

"One [outage] might be one or two houses, but it still needs somebody to fix those wires or fix a broken pole or take branches off, so it's a very labour-intensive endeavour."

Belliveau said 71,000 customers were left without power at the peak of the outages.

That prompted N.B. Power to deploy about 500 crew members to respond across the province, he said.

"By far the majority of the outages were caused by branches bringing down lines or making contact with lines and so on, but there was also dozens of poles that were broken around the province."

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Comments


David Amos
Merry Christmas


 
 

Most of New Brunswick has power back, last few customers to be restored by evening

About 71,000 N.B. Power customers were without power at storm's peak, utility says

Most New Brunswickers had their power restored by mid-Tuesday afternoon following an outage beginning on Dec. 23 that peaked at around 70,000 customers.

Only around 30 customers are still without power. But they are expected to have their power back by Tuesday evening.

Marc Belliveau, an N.B. Power spokesperson, said on Tuesday morning that the remaining customers without power would be "the very last outages that we would be dealing with." 

He said many of the outages are one or two houses, but they still require the same restoration time as an outage affecting 50 houses.

"We're talking about clearing branches, clearing trees, stringing wires back up if they're down or changing insulators that might have been broken," he said. "And in some cases, there's broken poles."

The majority of the remaining outages are in Carleton, according to the outage map.

The start of the outage came with a pre-Christmas storm that brought heavy rain, high winds and snow to different parts of the province.

Belliveau said there were 500 employees working to get power restored at the outage's peak, but there might be fewer today because of fewer outages.

Outage numbers have been fluctuating throughout the day across the province. Belliveau said that's because workers often need to take some customers offline in order to do repairs.

Belliveau said this outage event is one of the most significant in the last few decades for New Brunswick because storms will normally hit one region, but this one hit the whole province.

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