Public 'disappointed' in NB Power's response during 2017 ice storm

Members of the public were disappointed in NB Power's performance throughoutthe 2017 ice storm, calling the utility 'uncoordinated' and 'jumping from one place to another.'

TheRichibuctoTown Hall hosted the second of several meetings plannedthis week about government's response to the massive ice storm in January that pummeled parts of the province,leaving thousands without power for several days.

"Apparentlythere were 13 crews around us," said Neil Gardner, who lives in the area andwas out of power for more than 10 days following the ice storm. "They were running around, as far as I can tell, like chickens with their heads cut off."

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At the meeting Gardner said information provided by NB Power "was borderline non-existent," withpeople seated at his table,noddingin agreement.

"We found they were very uncoordinated in the repairs. Instead of doing a whole area and clearing an area out they were jumping from one place to another, based on numbers out," he said.

"So what they seemed to be doing was spending a hell of a lot of time running up and down the roads."

NB Power gave a short presentation at Monday's meeting, stating the 2017 ice stormwas the worst disaster the utility hasever seen.

'Most expensive restoration effort in history'

"There were 380 crews that responded, includingpole, line and tree crew contractors," saidLynnArsenault, NB Power's vice president of customer service."

At the peak of its outages,Arsenaultsaidthere were133,000 customers withoutelectricity.

"It's the largest, most expensive restorationeffortin the history of NB Power,estimated at $30 million," saidArsenault.

More than 50 area residents attended the meeting held on Monday night, many of whichsaid they found government lacking in its response to the situation.

"We couldn't find much good," said Gardner. "There's a pile of stuff they [government] need to fix."

Gardnerread from a listcompiledby friends andneighbourswho witnessedthe icestorm. The list containedpros and cons to government's response both during andafter thestorm.

"In our area there was no fuel for people to power their generators," said Gardner."The DOT [Department of Transportation] trucks didn't have enough fuel. If they had to do snowclearingthat would have been a problem."

'Municipalities should have done more'

Minister of Justice and PublicSafetyDenis Landry, was also in attendance Monday night.

Landrysays he's heard several aspects of complaints from residents, which he isconfident, can be improved in the next crisis.

"We've heard that somesaid that when people went door-to-door to check up on them, they didn't have any signs or uniforms to tell them who they were," said Landry. "That made some people uncomfortable, some felt nervous about not knowing who they were."

Landry, who was alsowithout power for six days,said he intends to attend each of the review meetings.

The next public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m.

"Some people I haveheard from saythat themunicipalitiesshould have done more," said Landry. [They said]it's OK to rely on government,but they expectedthe local forces should have been more ready."