Chatham-Kent woman without power for 15 days following severe summer storm

Without power for 2 weeks A Merlin area woman has been without electricity since storms hit two weeks ago. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell reports.

Lake Erie resident Joanne Lefebvre near Merlin, Ont. has been living without electricity for more than two weeks following a severe summer storm that produced multiple tornadoes across the region and caused major power outages.

Lefebvre said her home and garage sustained damage on August 24 and that power lines were ripped down the night of the storm. She said a pole that held a hydro meter on her property also came down, but that hydro crews have been unable to reconnect the electricity until repairs on her property are made.

“I believed I was on it and had the electrician and everything all lined up,” Lefebvre explained. “But it took eight days to get the approval for him to start the work.”

Lefebvre has been getting by thanks to an extension cord running from her neighbour’s house to power a refrigerator and a cell phone.

Lefebvre said she submitted her first insurance claim since living in the lakeside home for more than 25 years, but that the insurance provider has been slow to move forward with approvals, leaving Lefebvre in the dark for 15 days and counting.

“I was dealing with the broker and I probably should have taken direction and dealt with the insurance company directly,” Lefebvre said. “So there was a lot of issues that I could have maybe done better, but it was my first claim and dealing with my disabilities and my weakness right now. I was just hoping they would take the ball and run with it.”

The 66-year-old said she’s been in declining health and was declared legally blind a few years ago while battling stage 3 cancer.

“I understand the insurance being swamped, but this was quite serious I thought,” she said.

Lefebvre told CTV News that someone contacted Chatham-Kent mayor Darrin Canniff’s office on her behalf earlier this week to see what could be done, “He went ahead and contacted the Hydro One and then VP from Hydro One called me and said, ‘We are putting you on an emergency situation so that we can restore the power.’”

On Friday, a Hydro One worker was on scene along with an electrician to make repairs that would allow for a generator to provide power to Lefebvre’s home, while a more permanent solution and subsequent repairs are made in the coming days.

“I think it was good lessons for me. I really do believe that things happen for a reason. And I had to reflect on the fact that you know, maybe I should have asked more questions or, you know, like, I'm not trying to put the blame on anybody, but it just took so long,” she said.

A Hydro One spokesperson issued a statement to CTV News that said, "We understand how difficult it is to be without power. After the storm on August 24th, our crews were out in full force working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to customers. When storms occur, customer-owned electrical equipment may be damaged, inhibiting power restoration. When that happens, the customer is responsible for repairs on their equipment. Once repairs are made and approved by the Electrical safety authority, we will immediately reconnect the customer. Hydro One is committed to working with the customer and the contractor to ensure power is reconnected as soon as possible."

Mayor Canniff said he hopes this sort of situation doesn’t happen again, “Certainly we've got a great relationship with Hydro One so when I called them and mentioned that there was a situation there they got right on it which was great.”

Canniff said, “I would love to see these utilities step up and have a little more of an ownership, i.e. manage it because a lot of times an individual that has never dealt with that before doesn't know all the networks to go to.”

Canniff continued, “You got your insurance company, you’ve got an electrician, you got a third party to do repairs, you've got the hydro company, you know, somebody needs to step in, particularly for individuals that need help such as the senior that they need help getting through there. Otherwise, she might not have had hydro for weeks and weeks if there wasn't involvement from somebody that knows what they're doing to navigate the system.”

He added, “That wasn't a normal situation there but we need to make sure we get to deal with those non-normal situations and have the utilities kind of take a little more ownership on that end.”

Canniff stated, “I hope that no one else has to go through this again and it's just situational. I think that the lesson’s learned. I think that we'd like to step up and make sure that collectively, we provide a superior service to our customers, whether they're rural or urban and just make sure that they have power as soon as they can after a storm.”