Fewer than 10K customers still in the dark, Nova Scotia Power says heavy snow is hindering restoration

Some Nova Scotia Power customers are concerned with how long it takes to restore electricity.

The effects of an overnight Nor’easter that brought 10-to-30 cm of snow to parts of the Maritimes continue to be felt Tuesday.

Heavy, wet snow fell across the region on Monday, leaving thousands of customers without electricity, cancelling all schools in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and causing treacherous driving conditions.

Some Nova Scotia schools were closed again on Tuesday and thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers remain in the dark.

As of 7 p.m., roughly 7,308 customers were still without electricity, with most outages reported in the Bridgewater, Liverpool and Windsor areas.

At the peak of the outages, 140,000 people — or roughly 25 per cent of Nova Scotia Power customers — were in the dark.

The utility says poor secondary road conditions and the wet heavy snow, which is weighing down trees, are making restoration work difficult for crews.

“Our crews in the field are dealing with the continued winter conditions that we saw yesterday,” said Chris Lanteigne, Nova Scotia Power’s director of customer care. “Multiple trees are on power lines, so it’s taking multiple crews to restore power.”

Lanteigne says there are roughly 400 people working to restore power in the province, with 300 of those crews working in the Bridgewater and Liverpool areas.

“We know that power outages can be frustrating for customers, and it can be frustrating now that power outages have moved into the second day for our customers,” said Lanteigne. “What we’re finding in the Bridgewater area is that as we get out and we get into the field to restore power, there are multiple trees on lines that have to be removed, and it takes multiple crews at each outage to restore power for our customers.”

Lanteigne says the utility hopes to have power restored to all customers Tuesday night.

There are currently no outages in New Brunswick or P.E.I.

Bridgewater mayor calls for better communication

As of 6 p.m., there were 4,801 customers off the grid in Bridgewater, according to Nova Scotia Power’s outage map.

Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell says he was a little shocked by how widespread the urban outage has been for homes and businesses.

“What I’m hearing from residents, and from other mayors around the province as well, is we’re concerned with the volume of outages based on the storm that we had,” he told CTV News Atlantic’s Callum Smith.

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Mitchell also points to Nova Scotia Power seeking a rate increase.

“There’s a lot of questions being raised … is that going to give us any assurance that this is going to be plowed right back into infrastructure to make sure that we don’t have a repeat of this, for what I would say is not an atypical weather event,” he said.

The mayor also says there’s been less communication with the utility for this latest weather event.

“It is one of the complaints that I’ve been receiving a lot from my constituents is, we just don’t have any more information. The outage map is one piece of course, but moving restoration times is a target that can’t be relied on,” he said.

“But why hasn’t there been more communication from Nova Scotia Power explaining the up-to-date situation, how restoration is going, what are the potential culprits for delays in restoration? I think that communication needs to be improved.”

Icy roads

The weather conditions also made for icy roads again Tuesday morning.

Halifax Regional Police said just after 7 a.m. they were responding to a number of collisions throughout the city due to black ice.

Highway 111 inbound towards the MacKay Bridge was closed to all traffic from Portland Street to Main Street for about an hour.

“Please be mindful that winter conditions can create challenges for pedestrians who may need to walk in the roadway to avoid snow-covered or icy sidewalks,” reads a news release from police.

“Adjust your speed to the conditions. Leave extra space between you and the vehicle in front of you so that you can safely slow down and/or stop. Remember not to accelerate or brake too quickly when the roads are slippery.”

School closures

All schools in Nova Scotia’s Digby County were closed again Tuesday due to road conditions and ongoing snow cleanup.

Schools in the Annapolis Valley were on a two-hour delay, also due to road conditions.

Several other schools in the province were also closed due to power outages. A full list can be found here.

Other transportation

Marine Atlantic says the following sailings for Tuesday are cancelled:

• The 12:30 p.m. crossing from North Sydney to Port aux Basques
• The 11:15 p.m. crossing from North Sydney to Port aux Basques
• The 11:30 p.m. crossing from Port aux Basques to North Sydney

The following Wednesday sailing is also cancelled:

• The 11:45 a.m. Port aux Basques crossing to North Sydney

Bay Ferries says the 4 p.m. Fundy Rose departure from Digby, N.S., on Tuesday has been changed due to strong winds and the sea state forecast.

The ferry will now depart for Saint John, N.B., at 2 p.m.

“Sailing conditions may be rougher than normal. We suggest that customers susceptible to motion sickness be prepared with appropriate medication to make the crossing more comfortable,” reads a notice on the ferry service’s website.

There is currently a wind warning advisory in place for the Confederation Bridge. Wind conditions may result in traffic restrictions from 3 p.m. Tuesday until about 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Halifax parking ban lifted

The Halifax Regional Municipality says enforcement of the overnight winter parking ban has been lifted in both Zone 1 — Central and Zone 2 — Non-Central.

The overnight winter parking ban is in effect until March 31.

The municipality says, regardless of the status of an overnight winter parking ban, vehicles can be towed any time if they are interfering with snow-clearing operations.

-With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Callum Smith

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