Nova Scotia Power is planning to activate its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at 8 p.m. Jan. 3 in advance of a major winter storm, says a news release on its website.
“Weather forecasts are calling for heavy wet snow followed by high winds across the province, beginning early Thursday morning,” said Matt Drover, Nova Scotia Power’s storm lead. “In preparation, we’re stationing powerline crews and forestry teams across the province, and we’re staffing up our customer care centre.”
The EOC is the nerve centre for outage restoration planning and response and is staffed with employees representing all aspects of the company, says the release.
“We will be ready to respond to customer outages as quickly as it is safe to do so,” said Drover. “Based on the current track, we expect this storm to cause power outages across the province. The forecasted snow may make travel difficult and could impede crews in early response to outages. We encourage people to monitor their local weather forecasts and make preparations accordingly.”
Nova Scotia Power encourages customers to plan for their safety. Some tips include having an emergency kit that includes flashlights, a battery-powered radio and fresh water, ensuring backup generators are installed properly outdoors, and charging electronic devices. If you lose power, turn off and unplug electrical equipment, such as televisions and computers to prevent damage when power is restored.
In situations where there are multiple power outages, Nova Scotia Power restores power in phases to ensure critical services like hospitals can stay open before beginning to work in other areas. Larger outages on transmission lines and in substations are restored ahead of smaller outages to restore electricity to the greatest number of customers. The phases are as follows:
Phase 1 – Restoration of public safety issues and emergency situations
Phase 2 – Restoration of NS Power critical infrastructure such as transmission lines and substations
Phase 3 – Restoration of Emergency Management Office (EMO) critical infrastructure such as hospitals, shelters, and essential provincial and municipal services
Phase 4 – Restoration of main electrical feeders servicing communities and neighbourhoods
Phase 5 – Restoration of branch power lines servicing individuals
Visit www.nspower.ca/stormready for a full list of safety and storm preparedness tips. For outage information, call 1-877-428-6004.
