Maritime Electric is close to restoring power to a third of its customers following Tropical Storm Fiona’s outage in PEI over the weekend, but is no closer to providing an estimate of when the job
Fiona hit PEI early Saturday morning, leaving widespread destruction and power outages. As of Wednesday morning, about 57,000 Maritime Electric customers were still in the dark, with power restored to only about 26,000 customers on the fifth day of the outage.
With crews about to get back to work Wednesday morning, spokesperson Kim Griffin said things are particularly bad in the eastern part of the province.
“We don’t have all the essential services. That’s definitely something our crews are focusing on,” Griffin said.
“They worked until midnight last night, a lot of them, before they ran out of time, and they expect to be on the road by maybe 6:30, 7, this morning.”
Inspections on Tuesday found more broken poles than expected, and the count now stands at 475.
Yesterday’s rain slowed down the work, but today the weather forecast is more favorable. Streets will be closed in parts of Charlottetown on Wednesday to allow crews to work.
Maritime Electric can’t yet give an estimate of when power will be fully restored, but Griffin expects to provide a real update this Thursday or Friday.
An aerial view of Fiona’s path of destruction in PEI
This drone footage gathered by CBC video producer Shane Hennessey this Sunday shows the extensive damage caused by Post-Tropical Storm Fiona in parts of the island.
Red Cross help
The Canadian Red Cross is urging islanders who need help after the storm to register.
Bill Lawlor, Provincial Director for PEI and New Brunswick, said that even in a close-knit province like PEI there are people with health and housing issues who are isolated.
“We tend to think that’s not the case. You know, everybody knows everybody, it’s a nice, friendly atmosphere, a friendly province,” Lawlor said.
Finding those people who need help can be a challenge. The Red Cross is working with provincial officials and conducting welfare checks on those known to the province. Even when these people are reached, it can be difficult to determine their needs, Lawlor said.
“You find someone who says it’s okay, [but] They haven’t eaten in a day. They don’t know where they’re going to get their next meal,” he said.
Islanders who need assistance, even if they just feel isolated and want to do a wellness check, can register with the Red Cross online or by calling 1-800-863-6582
PEI Ground Search and Rescue is also traveling across the province, knocking on doors to check on people.
Schools closed until Monday
All English and French public schools will remain closed until at least Monday, October 3, Education Minister Natalie Jameson said during a press conference on Tuesday.
Six schools in the PEI have received significant damage. The schools are École Évangéline, Queen Charlotte Intermediate, Cardigan Consolidated, East Wiltshire Intermediate, West Royalty Elementary and Westwood Primary.
Students may need to temporarily move to other schools and some may transition to online learning.
Several shots of Fiona’s damage (Shane Hennessey/CBC)
Pat and the elephant running again
Pat and the Elephant, a transportation service for islanders with mobility issues, returned to full service Monday, but co-manager Halbert Pratt said there have been difficulties reaching some customers.
“There are so many trees and wires and things down there that it seems like you can’t get from point A to point B in a straight line anymore,” Pratt said.
He said communication also remains a problem.