Weathering the storm after Dorian left
Nova Scotia Power said Monday that it had begun demobilizing its emergency response to Hurricane Dorian.
“On behalf of Nova Scotia Power and the hundreds of contract crews who joined us in battling back from Hurricane Dorian, we would like to thank our customers for their words of encouragement and acts of kindness over the past week,” said Karen Hutt, President and CEO, Nova Scotia Power. “Dorian’s destruction was unprecedented, and so was your support.
“The coordination and cooperation of the Emergency Management Office, Province of Nova Scotia, Canadian Armed Forces, Canadian Red Cross and policing agencies was like no other and allowed us to collectively and safely respond to the needs of Nova Scotians.”
At its peak, Dorian knocked out power to 411,000 customers. Over the ensuing week, more than 50,000 additional outages occurred – most were caused by weakened trees.
On the front lines, Nova Scotia Power says more than 1,300 power line technicians, forestry technicians and damage assessors worked to repair Dorian’s destruction, supported behind the scenes by hundreds of personnel working on planning, engineering, logistics, customer care, information technology, safety and communications.
In the days after Dorian blew through the region, thousands of Nova Scotians in southwestern Nova Scotia continued to wait for power to be restored. Among these areas was Digby, where some residents went days without power – leaving many without access to groceries and other basic necessities. There were examples of businesses stepping up to help others. This is but one example: Knowing the pressure the community was feeling, Wendy Leblanc, Store Manager of the Sobeys store in Digby, and her entire team, worked around the clock to be able to open their doors to help customers during the storm and outage.
“The hugs I got and the tears from so many people who were in need has been surreal," said LeBlanc during the first 72 hours after the storm. "We’ve been helping everyone from families with babies who need milk and diapers to seniors who are cold and need something hot to keep them warm. I’m so proud to have been able to help and I’m thankful to all the people who came from near and far to lend a hand to get our store back on its feet, so that we could be there for those who need us.”
Getting the store open was a community effort that included borrowing a generator and bringing together a lot of helping hands. Those who came to support included Sobeys supplier partners and employees from neighbouring stores. Employees from Sobeys stores in Greenwood, New Minas and the Foodland store in Weymouth travelled to Digby to lend a hand.
As mentioned, at the height of Dorian more than 411,000 Nova Scotia Power customers were without power. As of our presstime on Monday, the number of affected customers was 84 across the province with fewer than five left without power in Digby.