Over 100,000 Nova Scotians lost their power during a severe Christmas Day storm that battered the province with hurricane-force winds.
“The significant challenge with the impact of this storm was the wind,” said Tiffany Chase, senior communications advisor with Nova Scotia Power.
“We had hurricane-force wind gusts across the province, above 100 kilometers per hour, and that had significant damage to our system.”
Chase says outages occurred from one end of the province to the other, but the South Shore and Sydney were hit the hardest.
READ MORE: Nova Scotia Power completing final power restorations amid frigid temperatures
Dartmouth customers have also endured a significant amount of time without power as several electrical poles were snapped like twigs.
“We’ve certainly had a significant amount of damage in the Pleasant Street area of Dartmouth. We had 10 poles in a row just snap in half as a result of those strong wind gusts,” Chase said.
Hundreds of crew members have been working non-stop since Christmas in frigid temperatures.
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“A total of 700 people are still working on restoration efforts across the province,” Chase said.
Many have noticed their efforts, with some dropping off sandwiches to help fuel the crews up for work in the freezing temperatures and wind chill.
“We’re also concerned about those customers who haven’t had power. So we’ve been reaching out to them to see if there’s any assistance we can provide and we’ve opened comfort centers at four community offices for them,” said Chase.
WATCH: Crews working around the clock to restore power to Nova Scotians after Christmas storm
The final push to restore power to all areas is expected to be complete by end of day Thursday.
“We’re getting very close to restoring power to the 158,000 customers who were affected by that Christmas Day storm. Currently, just over 100 of those customers are still without power,” Chase said.
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