Three weeks after Fiona, the number of P.E.I. customers without power drops to 160

Power crews have restored electricity to more than 1,000 Prince Edward Island customers since Thursday night, bringing the number of customers affected by outages to 160.

As of 2:15 p.m. Friday, the number of Maritime Electric customers without power had dropped to 162, three weeks after post-tropical storm Fiona made landfall in the Maritimes on Sept. 23.

That number is down 1,138 customers from 6 p.m. Thursday, when 1,300 customers were without power, according to the Maritime Electric power outage map.

The utility said earlier this week that some customers, particularly those who experiencing individual outages due to issues such as damaged masts, would not have their power restored until Friday.

In a tweet, Maritime Electric said power crews continued restoring power to “many individual outages” Thursday night. Roughly 260 crews have been working to restore power across P.E.I. this week.

At its peak, about 90 per cent of the utility’s electrical system -- or about 82,000 customers -- lost power due to Fiona.

P.E.I. EMO said Friday that the ongoing provincial response to Fiona will transition to a “recovery phase.”

In its latest press release, the P.E.I. government said more resources from across Canada have arrived on the island this week to help with “non-urgent cleanup.”

More than 100 specialized workers and equipment will come from Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and nearby New Brunswick.

The provincial government added that crew members will arrive on a staggered scheduled over several weeks and will help clean up large debris, and rebuilding the damaged natural environments. 

In an update Friday afternoon, the City of Charlottetown said Emergency Measures teams will continue “community recovery and cleanup efforts” over the upcoming weekend.

The city added that recovery efforts will be focused on “several areas,” including sidewalk cleanup, repair and replacement.

Meanwhile, cleanup efforts on Island parks and trails are expect to take “several weeks.” 

PUBLIC INQUIRY

Calls are growing for a public inquiry into how well the island’s government and electrical utility were prepared for the ferocity of Fiona.

Peter Bevan-Baker, leader of the official opposition Green Party, said Thursday that the government should establish an inquiry with subpoena powers and independent commissioners to examine issues such as how 12 seniors’ residences operated by the province waited two weeks for power restoration.

Bevan-Baker said the inquiry should also investigate why there were long lineups for people to receive $250 assistance cheques, why 911 was disabled for several days, and why there was poor communication with the public during the disaster.

The Canadian Red Cross said Thursday that it has since changed to an appointment-based model after frustration mounted over the long lineups at its Charlottetown office.

The Liberal, Green and Progressive Conservative members of the legislative committee on health have summoned representatives from Maritime Electric, the Island's Emergency Measures Organization, the Housing Department and the Canadian Red Cross to appear at a series of emergency meetings on the response to the post-tropical storm.

Premier Dennis King said this week he was "open" to having "someone" review how the province and the utility responded, but he didn't commit to what he referred to as a "full-blown inquiry."

With files from The Canadian Press