There are roughly 10,000 homes and businesses without power Saturday as an icy winter storm grips the province.
The utility brought on some 500 staff to work on the lines when the conditions permit but high winds have been making restoration efforts challenging.
“We have more than 500 people in the field responding to this storm, as well as hundreds more behind the scenes supporting this restoration work,” said Matt Drover, Nova Scotia Power’s Storm Lead. “Overnight, our crews experienced white out conditions, high winds and difficult travel conditions which prevented us from reaching some areas to restore power.”
Last night winds reached 90km/hr along the South Shore and Halifax. Winds exceeded 120 km/hr along the Eastern Shore. They are forecasted to be above warnings levels in the North East and Cape Breton on Saturday.
Road conditions are poor across the province, with snow over a layer of ice.
A cold blast of air is playing with our nor’easter this morning. #Halifax has seen several hours of ice pellets already but snow + blowing snow is going to be the concern throughout the day #ATLStorm #nsstorm @weathernetwork pic.twitter.com/asShyC9s1m
— Jessie Uppal (@JessieUppalTWN) January 15, 2022
Snow is still coming down. It isn’t expected to stop until Saturday afternoon.
“This is the second significant winter storm to hit Nova Scotia in a week and despite the challenging conditions, we are continuing to respond to outages as safely and as quickly as we can,” Drover said. “We encourage all of our customers to stay safe too. If you see any downed power lines please stay at least 20m away and call 911.”
For up to date information on outages and restoration times check NSP’s website.
