Power restored in Pangnirtung; mayor grateful for ‘community spirit’ during lengthy outage

Things were returning to normal in Pangnirtung on Monday after an extreme winter storm left parts of the community without electricity for close to four days.

After flying in crews from Iqaluit on Sunday morning to help local workers make repairs, Qulliq Energy Corp. reported later that night on social media that only one residence was still without power.

The original plan was to fly in the extra crews as early as Thursday, according to Qulliq, but poor weather prevented that until Sunday.

Crews continued to work on the electrical system Monday and Qulliq urged anyone still experiencing power issues to contact its emergency line.

In a post on the hamlet’s Facebook page Sunday evening, newly elected Mayor Lynn Meeka Mike apologized for her absence from the community during the storm but said the weather needed to clear before planes could land.

Mike said she and Pangnirtung senior administrative officer Jamie Evic were attending the annual general meeting of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities in Iqaluit last week, along with most other mayors and administrators from across the territory.

“I arrived [Sunday] morning on the QEC charter under the urgent circumstances” with Evic, she wrote, adding she was sorry she wasn’t able to be in the community during the storm and power outage.

Local weather is expected to remain fairly clear this week. Environment and Climate Change Canada forecasts daily temperatures in Pangnirtung in the -5 C to -10 C range through Sunday with possible light snow on Tuesday and again Sunday.

In an email to Nunatsiaq News on Monday, RCMP reported no incidents related to the storm or power outage in Pangnirtung.

In her Facebook post, the mayor thanked the community for its support and patience during the storm and power outage.

“The community spirit was very noticeable, and the community worked very hard to stay safe and support one another,” Mike said.

Last Wednesday evening, Qulliq reported that power was down across all of Pangnirtung, however about an hour later it provided an update saying it had been partially restored.

Hamlet offices were closed due to poor weather late in the week and on Saturday the hamlet declared a local state of emergency, allowing it to use special, temporary authority to co-ordinate emergency efforts.

Pangnirtung’s prolonged outage came just over a week after a blizzard cut power to Arviat for several days, leaving many homes and buildings without heat.

During that storm, one man left his home around 9:20 p.m. on Nov. 22 and was found dead nine hours later.