Preparations are underway in Nova Scotia as Hurricane Lee tracks toward the province.
Officials say now is the time to make sure you have an emergency kit ready and your property secured.
Nova Scotia Power says it’s taking the storm “very seriously” and developing a strategy to quickly respond to any outages. The utility will be activating its emergency operations centre Friday at noon.
“We work with our contractors both within Nova Scotia and outside of Nova Scotia, in New Brunswick and other provinces, on availability,” says storm lead Matt Drover.
“We start to lock down crews as we get closer to the storm hitting the province. By Friday we’ll have crews staged throughout the province.”
The utility’s most significant concern ahead of the system is the potential impact of high winds.
“While we work year-round to do vegetation management and tree trimming and remove those trees, the reality is there are still many trees throughout the province and we expect those will be the repairs we’re making when trees come down and land on power lines,” explains Drover.
He expects hundreds of workers will be on the ground this weekend.
The province’s Emergency Management Office is also working on its response. The incident management division director says the Provincial Coordination Centre will launch at noon on Friday.
“We’ve been preparing and meeting with all of our key stakeholders, reaching out to the fuel sector, telephone companies — Bell and Eastlink, fuel companies — Imperial and Irving, as well as municipalities,” says Jason Mew.
The Canadian Red Cross has placed its volunteers on standby and supplies are being repositioned across the Atlantic region.
“Shelters are always our go-to for these kinds of responses,” says Central Nova Scotia Emergency Management Coordinator Matt Cottingham. “It’s always a collaborative effort with the community as well to make sure that the needs of the people are being met and that we’re not missing any gaps there.”
Both the Red Cross and EMO recommend having an emergency kit stocked with 72 hours’ worth of food, water, and other supplies like flashlights, batteries, and a first aid kit.
Meantime, U-Haul says during times like this propane is a dependable fuel source.
In a statement, Atlantic Canada District vice president Tracey Higgs says dispensers are expected to be extremely busy over the coming days.
“We have made sure to stock all Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador facilities with plenty of propane, and have refills booked for Friday before the storm hits,” she says.
“Our facilities will be open at regular hours, pumping propane all day, and helping our neighbors prepare for the incoming storm.”
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