NB Power is expected to have 99 per cent of the power back on in Bouctouche, Moncton, Sackville, Shediac, Sussex by the end of today.
We expect to have approx. 99% of customers in Bouctouche, Moncton, Sackville, Shediac & Sussex restored by the end of Friday night (Jan 27.)
— NB Power (@NB_Power) January 27, 2017
Michaela Walsh is hoping her home is one of them.
It has been a chilly few days for the Walsh family. They lost power on Tuesday night, and they’ve been watching the lights come back on at the neighbours homes for the last couple of days, just hoping they would be next.
Michaela says they are very lucky that it hasn’t been too cold at night, “Temperatures outside haven’t been too bad. Yes, inside it is cold, but once we are in bed, it isn’t too bad.”
It has been an experience, considering how much society relies on the Internet and other forms of entertainment in this day and age, “You get used to TV or your phone, and having the Internet. Definitely your interaction with your family is a little different when you don’t have any power,” Michaela chuckled.
She says her family is grateful for everyone who has offered to help, “Those friends, family and neighbours who have said, if you need anything, please call us. Hot showers have been offered, and our neighbours took our kids afterschool, a hot supper as well. We’ve been very lucky that way.”
Meantime, Crystal Wheaton, who lives in Moncton’s north end, was without power for over 45 hours.
She was one of the lucky ones to have her power restored on Thursday night.
Crystal says you don’t realise how much you rely on power each day, until you lose it, “I made coffee using the hot water that was left in my tank. I ran the hot water and made a coffee. It was disgusting, but it worked. It’s the little things we take for granted for sure.”
Crystal says with a husband, two teenagers, two cats and two dogs, it isn’t easy to just pick up and head over to a friends house. Not having Internet, wasn’t easy either, “I have two teenagers so, not having Internet we had to give them strict instructions on using data for their phone, and understanding that once the phones are dead, they’re dead. We played a lot of board games over the past few days,” Wheaton adds.
Crystal says they did book a hotel room that took pets, but in the end decided not to use it, “Paid for a hotel and didn’t use it. We came home because the animals were a little freaked out. We also wanted to be home to be sure that nothing was touching the heaters, and that the system wasn’t overloaded. We wanted to make sure there wasn’t too much on, when the power did come back on.”
They were very grateful to see the lights come back on last night.
