Left in the dark
Power outage leaves Cape Bretoners wondering
NEW WATERFORD - A power outage Wednesday might have been short-lived but a puzzling experience with partial power has left some people in the dark.
The outage occurred at about 7:44 p.m. Dec. 16, affecting about 4,510 people in the River Ryan, Lingan, Scotchtown and New Waterford areas and parts of New Victoria past Daley Road.
At first, some people reported the power flickered off and came back on for about 15 minutes before going off again for more than an hour. But while the lights may have returned, not everything else came back on.
“It seemed like only part of my power was on,” said Amelia Mcneil of Lingan. “The lights worked but were dim and my computer wouldn't turn back on.”
Mcneil said power went out again for more than an hour and then everything was fine, once it was restored.
“I thought there was a power surge and that was the end of my computer,” she said. “I was surprised but so happy when it came on again but it was a weird experience.”
The power crews did a great
job, she said, adding it was back up "lickety-split.”
Jacqueline Foster, a spokesperson for NSP, said they are still investigating the exact cause of the problem Wednesday evening but a piece of equipment did fail and they made some repairs.
The problem was believed to have been connected to a utility pole near the corner of Plummer Avenue and St. Joseph Street in New Waterford, which had been reported on fire. Foster would only say the cause of the power outage remained under investigation.
Foster said while making the repairs to the transmission system in New Waterford, there had not been a brown out.
“A brown out occurs when there is not enough power to support the customer's load,” she said. “In a situation like that you might experience flickering lights. It would also be system-wide, meaning more communities would be affected.”
While Foster said a systemwide brown out did not occur, occasionally when repairs are being made to their power lines, this can temporarily lower the voltage in some areas.
“This is why some devices wouldn't work even though the power is back on,” Foster said. “Once repairs are completed the power source is returned to normal.”
Laurie Jane Macdougall of River Ryan also thought she lost her computer after the power flickered off but then it came back on for about 15 minutes before going out again for more than an hour. Her portable heater didn't work either but everything else was OK.
“Man, I was happy when everything started working again after power was restored,” she said. “I was sick to my stomach thinking my girls wouldn't have a computer anymore. Who could replace one right before Christmas?“
Macdougall expressed gratitude to the crews.
“That was a short outage, which was great. It was cold that night. High fives to the linesmen.”
One New Waterford resident reported when they lost their indoor lights, their Christmas lights remained on briefly, before also going out.