Some Islanders endure week without power
AN ICE STORM early in the month turned power poles in the picturesque coastal community of Malpeque (about 20 minutes east of Summerside) into firewood and many homes were without power for close to two weeks.
The local high school in Kensington (about a five-minute drive away) opened its doors to the community on several occasions, allowing students and their parents to enjoy a hot meal and a shower.
The storm clearly brought the community together. Neighbours who had generators helped out those who didn’t. Crews from Maritime Electric, which supplies power to the province, worked around the clock trying to get the lights back on and life back to normal.
They were assisted by crews from utilities throughout the region.
All Islanders whether they found themselves in the dark or not certainly prayed that the outage would be the worst of the season. However, they found out this week those prayers would go unanswered.
The work week began with freezing rain and soon the province was in the grip of a silver thaw.
While the ice-covered trees and power lines may create the backdrop for the perfect winter picture, there is nothing pretty about the havoc it causes.
Remember the ice storm in Quebec and Ontario 10 years ago? A silver thaw was the major cause. The army was called in at Toronto as were linemen from P.E.I.
The ice on the line gets heavy and often takes down the lines and the poles with it.
By Monday night, much of Prince County (the western portion of the province) and the Hunter River-Rustico area, which is about a half hour west of Charlottetown, were without power.
Linemen were working around the clock but their efforts were hampered by the weather. The freezing rain continued making travelling hazardous. Maritime Electric hired a helicopter to survey the scene and pinpoint problem areas, but with limited success until the weather improved Thursday.
The headlines in the province’s daily newspapers screamed: “Ice Storm 08.” The papers were filled with stories about how people were coping in the dark.
The Red Cross and Emergency Measures Organization set up shelters and volunteer firemen made a special effort to look in on seniors, bringing them needed supplies and taking them to shelters.
The spirit of hospitality and compassion Islanders — and indeed, all Maritimers — are famous for was very much in evidence.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced that if the army was needed this time, as was the case in Quebec and Ontario, it would be there. As the week wound down, troops at CFB Gagetown were on standby — a phone call from Premier Robert Ghiz would have had them heading for Confederation Bridge.
Children in the western part of the province had no school all week. Students in the eastern part headed back to school Wednesday, but were sent home in the afternoon when a problem at a substation knocked out power to most of Charlottetown and eastern P.E.I.
At one point in the day, Maritime Electric estimated only five per cent of its customers had power.
The local CBC supper hour show did its entire show Wednesday in torrential rain and high winds, just yards from repair crews in the Hunter River area. By the end of the hour-long broadcast, the host and weatherman looked like drowned rats.
Utility spokesman Kim Griffin appeared with them and had little good news for those still without power. She told them not to be surprised if their lights weren’t on before you read this column.
About the only blessing is the calendar has now turned. Those overworked linemen, and indeed all Islanders, are hoping that means winter has now passed the halfway point. Everybody has their fingers crossed that it was the worst half.
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