Additional crews arrive with more on the way to help restore power to thousands

Hundreds of workers from other jurisdictions are helping with restoration efforts in Nova Scotia following Fiona's arrival early Saturday morning.

As of 3:20 p.m. Tuesday, just over 127,000 customers in the province are still without electricity.

That includes over 15,000 in Dartmouth, 3,200 in Halifax, 3,700 in Sackville, 950 in St. Margarets Bay and 120 in Sheet Harbour.

Nova Scotia Power now has 1,300 people in the field helping to assess damage and restore power throughout the province.

That's 300 more than Monday.

“And we have over 100 more on the way,” the utility's storm lead Matt Drover said at a media availability Tuesday. “Every day we are adding more.”

Those additional power line technicians, forestry technicians and damage assessors have come from New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario and New England.

“Our big focus for the last two days has been on damage assessment and restoration, so getting a lay of the land and understanding the extent of the damage,” Drover explained.

“Most of the areas we've covered so far, which covers two-thirds of the province, have been those areas we can get access to.”

Now that members of the Canadian Armed Forces have arrived, they're being used to help clear debris so crews can get to those harder to reach places.

The Department of Natural Resources is also helping with that effort.

Nova Scotia Power says about 415,000 customers lost power during the historic storm and more than 280,000 have been restored.

“The storm we were preparing for with Fiona was one that was as intense as Juan and as widespread as Dorian. That's definitely what we got,” Drover said. “Through the damage assessment we've done over the last few days, the impact to our infrastructure, to the trees within the province, it is definitely larger than Dorian.”

“Because of that we are mobilizing the largest restoration resource deployment that we ever have done in our company's history.”

Here in HRM and some surrounding communities, as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, 90 per cent of customers have electricity again.

There are 400 workers in our area dealing with restorations, and drones are being deployed to assess the damage to power lines that can't be spotted from city streets.

If you see a downed line or and wire, treat it as if it's energized. Stay away and report it by calling 1-877-428-6004.