Power restored throughout Arviat day after state of emergency declared
QEC staff arrived in hamlet to restore electricity knocked out by blizzard
Arviat Mayor Joe Savikataaq Jr.’s pickup truck is stuck under a pile of snow in Arviat following Wednesday’s blizzard, which impacted communities across Kivalliq region. (Photo courtesy of Joe Savikataaq Jr.)
Qulliq Energy Corp. reported power was restored throughout nearly all of Arviat by late Saturday, a day after the hamlet council declared a state of emergency.
QEC announced on Facebook Saturday evening that staff who arrived earlier in the day to get the community back online were close to finishing the job.
“Full power has been restored to all customers, except the middle school which crews are currently repairing,” the post read. “Thank you for your ongoing support and patience!”
Nunavut’s electricity provider said people still without power should contact its emergency line at 1-833-313-3030.
Earlier Saturday, Mayor Joe Savikataaq Jr. told Nunatsiaq News he was hopeful power would be back by the end of the day.
Savikataaq said Saturday that community members welcomed the arrival of Qulliq Energy Corp. workers after the hamlet declared a local state of emergency due to blizzard-related power outages.
The hamlet council declared a state of emergency Friday evening after several homes and other buildings in the community were still without power after a midweek blizzard wreaked havoc upon several communities in the Kivalliq region.
One Arviat resident died and several buildings in surrounding communities were damaged as 100 km/h winds and wind chill temperatures nearing -40 C affected the region Wednesday.
Savikataaq said Saturday afternoon that 53 homes were without power and were relying on generators.
Power was also out at the airport. With limited daylight and no runway lights, it has been a challenge to safely bring QEC workers to the community to restore electricity.
“We’ve been trying to get linemen into Arviat here for the past few days, but there has been one thing after another: weather, short daylight hours and mechanical issues,” Savikataaq said.
During the state of emergency, which Savikataaq said would last approximately three days, the community opened the elementary school’s gym as a place where people can warm up and have a snack and a drink.
QEC posted updates on social media about its efforts to restore power in Arviat.
Workers were able to land on a charter flight Saturday afternoon and get to work, according to a Facebook post.
With the workers finally on the ground, Savikataaq said he was hopeful things could return to normal perhaps as soon as the end of the day Saturday.
“Thank you to housing and Hamlet of Arviat workers, and a big thank you to QEC and the Department of [Community and Government Services],” he said.
“When we declared a local state of emergency, we got what we wanted done and lots of support is coming in now.”
It time for QEC to get a linemen open in every community or the bigger community NOT just Rankin power would have been restored like 3 days ago not 5 days later and time for more other options for airplanes NOT just calmair walk up
Encourage your local Human Resources to go learn the trade.
Here is some info on training requirements for linemen/linewomen: https://noc.esdc.gc.ca/Structure/NocProfile?objectid=6myP8BaA1T%2FUfKtPCfUVDtumDefIqNx8Chzqw6tlBb8%3D
Yep, now if only we could begin to find people who are willing to commit to training for 4 or 5 years.
Considering that we can’t even get people to fill unskilled service jobs at NorthMart, where exactly are these folks going to come from?
They are coming from the south, and they always will.
Over seas. They’re willing and able.
Then we can complain about how these “out siders” are stealing the jobs we didn’t even want to try for. Or learn.
(Wait…That means work.😱 Blasphemous)
Sometimes hard to read…were was changed to we’re…stupid autocorrect. I really hate American English but that is all these younger generations know, cheap English. Do they even do a grammar and spell check? Brutal.
Nunavut will never change 🤣 same old s$$$
I know, right? So many of our young journalists, like at Nunatsiaq, are part of the ‘Microsoft Generation’ and never learned proper spelling and grammar. What is sad is that they are so comfortable with foreign ways.
My question is why local crews who have training to repair fuses using a hotstick and have experience repairing fuses in the past were told they cannot restore power or even temporarily restore power while we wait for the line crew to arrive. Arviat could have been temporarily restored to 100% power on Thursday and saved many buildings from damage had the local crew been allowed to restore the power. Why provide training and then not allow crews to use the training they were provided especially in an emergency situation? Where was QEC’s emergency plan in all of this? Perhaps its time to reflect and update the emergency plan for situations like this if they have one. Several communities were affected and QEC seemed to be reacting like a headless chicken.
Emergency Preparedness is vital for first line workers.
In every community there should be agreements in place between the Hamlet, QEC, NHC (biggest landlord), Local Private Heavy Equipment contractors, etc. for when the power goes out during blizzards.
Everyone major player should know their rolls and responsibilities, have all the number’s to call right away.
Going out in the blizzard this week was hazardous and to mitigate the hazards, a plan needs to be established. where everyone knows their rolls.
If power is out for more that 12 hours to houses, there should be a plan to distribute, camping stoves, lanterns, and fuel to the affected houses. This one day will save someone’s life..
Every municipality in Nunavut should have an Emergency Procedures By-law; check your community. These are public bylaws passed for your safety in an emergency situation. You have a right to get a copy of the Emergency Plan for your community.
I’ve seen the emergency plan for my community and it is defective in several respects. Just one example: You can have a generator but how do you get gas for it if the gas station can’t run without power and has no means of running from a generator? If you have a generator for power it can run your furnace. But if the fuel truck can’t be filled from the tank farm due to a lack of power your furnace is not much good. How long can the telephone exchange run on batteries? Can the cell system be hooked up to a generator? Will the stores stay open, running on generators or will they have to close because the employees are at home, coping with their own emergency.
The bottom line: have YOUR OWN emergency plan and the equipment that’s necessary for comfort (or at least for survival). Don’t count on the government to be “there for you” or to “have your back”.
Kudos to Joe Joe; he gave up his airline seat for one of the linemen to get to Arviat to resolve the power situation.