Cumberland Spared in Christmas Storm

A major storm rolled through Nova Scotia on Christmas Day and into the early hours on Boxing Day, bringing winds gusting above 100 km/hour. The system caused significant damage to the electricity system as winds caused trees to fall into power lines, breaking utility poles, and snapping lines. 

At it’s peak, more than 95 thousand customers were without power from Yarmouth to Sydney. Cumberland County was spared, while every other county was affected.

“Crews and staff worked safely to restore more than 95,000 customers since the storm hit yesterday,” said Matt Drover, Nova Scotia Power’s Storm Lead. “Today we have more than 650 people dedicated to storm restoration efforts, including contractor crews from Nova Scotia and our New Brunswick neighbours.” 

In total, there are nearly 400 frontline personnel working to restore service to customers, including power line technicians, foresters, and damage assessment teams. Additionally, more than 250 support staff, including supervisors, work planners, schedulers, dispatchers, engineers, safety specialists, and customer care representatives, will be engaged in the effort. 

Even with these extra crews, given the extent of the damage, Nova Scotia Power estimates the vast majority of customers will be restored by noon Wednesday. Isolated outages impacting smaller groups of customers may take longer to restore depending on the damage and required repairs. 

While the storm has passed, weakened trees may still fall onto lines causing new outages. 

Always treat downed electrical lines and equipment as electrified, and report them immediately to Nova Scotia Power at 1-877-428-6004. The same number should be used to report power outages.

“We will work around the clock until all customers have their power back,” says Drover. “We understand it’s especially frustrating to experience an outage during the holidays, and we appreciate customers’ patience as our crews and support staff work safely to restore power as quickly as possible.”