New Brunswick ice storm knocks out power to more than 100,000 customers

New Brunswick is dealing with the second-worst case of widespread power outages in its history as a storm continues to coat parts of the province with ice, leaving more than 95,600 homes and businesses without electricity Wednesday evening.

At its peak Wednesday, more than 130,000 NB Power customers were affected, representing about 33 per cent of the Crown corporation's customer base.

The most widespread power disruption in provincial history was in 2014, when post-tropical storm Arthur knocked out power to 195,000 NB Power accounts, representing about 60 per cent of the customer base.

NB Power spokesman Brent Staebensaid it is fair to say the current storm is the worst winter event in the utility's history and second only to Arthur in terms of outages.

As of 10:04 p.m. AT Wednesday, crews from NB Power werescrambling to restore electricity to about 95,627customers.

The bulk of the outages were inthe Acadian Peninsula, with over 26,000affected, and in the Moncton area, with more than 23,700 affected,according to the utility.

"By all accounts, this is an extreme weather event," Premier Brian Gallant said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

NB Power has 245 crews including its own, crews from other jurisdictions, and contracted crews on the ground as part of the restoration effort.

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NB Power president Getan Thomas said the utility may be able to get help from another 20 crews on Thursday, once neighbouring jurisdictions have dealt with their own power issues resulting from the storm.

The number of outages peaked Wednesday at about 130,000 homes and businesses affected, said Thomas.

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But he said the number of outages "is being masked" because outages continue to happen as the storm continues to rage.

Storm 'still raging' in some areas

Thomas said the storm is expected to continue in parts of northern New Brunswick until 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. local timeWednesday.

As of 10 p.m., Wednesday the utility saidthe ice storm was still in progress in the Acadian Peninsula and Miramichi, and crews would provide restoration estimates when it is safe to do so.

Environment Canada reported a mix of ice pellets and snow for the region overnight.

"It's still raging over there right now," said Thomas.

Thomas said NB Power hopes to restore service to 90 per cent of customers in some areas by Wednesday night. However, until the storm subsides in northern New Brunswick the utility doesn't really know what challenges await.

NB Power said its restoration work is prioritized by focusing on high-priority incidents affecting large numbers of customers and emergencies and tweeted out a number of restoration estimates Wednesday evening:

• 95 per cent of Fredericton customers restored by end of Thursday night.
• 50 per cent of customers in Sussex, Sackville, Shediac, Bouctouche and Monctonrestored by end of Thursday.
• 90 per cent of customers in Rothesay, Bathurst, Eel River, St. Stephen and Woodstock restored by end of Wednesday.

Days without power for some

Marie-Andre Bolduc, a spokeswoman for NB Power, said anticipates restoring power lines will take a few days.

"The trees are really being weighed down and they're making contact with the lines, but also heavy buildup of snow on the lines themselves and they really kind of exceed the capacity of weight," said Bolduc.

"The restoration efforts are challenging right now because the storm is still going through in some areas, so access to sites and road conditions are tricky for the crews."

Rude awakening

Dan Ross of Monctonsaid he woke up at 4 a.m. to nearly a metre and a half of water in his basement, and that everyone in the area also had waterlogged basements.

The power went out in his neighbourhood around 10 p.m. Tuesday. He was monitoring the basement and it seemed OK when he went to bed at 1 a.m., but then the sumppumps stopped working.

"When I woke up, I had a new swimming pool in the basement," said Ross, who had never experienced this type of thing before.

"Everything in the basement is pretty well a writeoff. The washer is floating around in the basement as well as the freezer, the furnace is under water.

"The only thing that's not floating is the dryer. I think the dryer sank."

He saidhe'sinsured and waswaiting fora restoration company to pump out the water.

RobertDuguay, director of communications with the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization, said residents should stay prepared byhaving everything they need for at least 72 hours after a storm.

Residents without power should neverrun generators or cook with an open flame, inside a home or garage, as these activities create carbon monoxide that can becomedangerous.

He said residents should never leave candles or lanterns unattended and shouldtake a moment to test the batteries in carbon monoxide detectors and smoke detectors.

In case of power outages, residents are encouraged to check on their neighbours, particularly the elderly.

Port Elgin told to conserve water

Terry Murphy, spokesman for the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organizationin Port Elgin, saidresidents of Port Elgin are being asked to conserve water until power is restored to the village pumps.

CBC meteorologistBrennanAllen said the storm will slowly move out andmild temperatures are expected.

Butnorthern regions of New Brunswick will get15 to 20 centimetresof snow and ice pellets,in addition to several hours of freezing rain.

"Central New Brunswick, from York through Kent County, appear to be at the highest risk of dangerous ice" formation, Allensaid.

"Elsewhere, there will be enough freezing rain to make travel on roads dangerous. The Atlantic andFundycoasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will be looking at 40 to 80 millimetresof rain."

High winds and heavy rain are causing poor driving conditions.

The University of New Brunswick's Fredericton campus and the St. Thomas University campus, as well as the University of Moncton,were closed until noon.

Public schools were also closed in much of the province.