'We're glad to do it': NB Power crews head to N.S. to help reconnect customers
'I can certainly appreciate the challenges they have'
NB Power is sending 16 line crews to Nova Scotia to help reconnect tens of thousands of customers without electricity.
Despite stormy weather conditions in New Brunswick and continuing severe weather warnings from Environment Canada, the province had just 1,400 power outages on Saturday and 600 Christmas day.
"Because our neighbours in Nova Scotia certainly seem to have got hit much, much harder, we were fortunate enough to be able to send 16 crews today to Nova Scotia to help out," said NB Power spokesperson Marc Belliveau.
The 16 line crews include two people per truck for a total of 32 NB Power employees.
"We're glad to do it," Belliveau said.
"I can certainly appreciate the challenges they have," he added, noting he'd seen photos of lines that had snapped in Eastern Passage.
"So that's always very difficult, especially if the ground is frozen. You can imagine the difficulties — it's something we're certainly used to here in New Brunswick."
'How we can do things better'
Next week, New Brunswickers on the Acadian Peninsula may be recalling their own awful storm — the ice storm of a year ago that knocked out power to about 133,000 homes and businesses, leaving some without electricity for 11 days. Two people died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Next week NB Power will begin placing 17 steel power poles across the causeway to the Acadian Peninsula at a cost of $650,000 to strengthen power infrastructure. The work will begin Jan. 2 and will take 10 to 12 days, Belliveau said.
"It's not just about infrastructure, it's about getting better communications with the municipalities, with agencies like the Emergency Measures Organizations — we've done a series of things that will help a lot," Belliveau explained.
NB Power also has new, higher-tech computers that better predict storms and where they will hit, so the utility can be better prepared.
Several reports on the crisis have mapped out "how we can do things better moving forward," Belliveau added.
With files from CBC Radio: New Brunswcik