Lamèque residents relieved to have power restored so quickly

Thousands of New Brunswick's Acadian Peninsula residents found themselves without power after a violent thunderstorm on Thursday night, but some NB Power customers in Lamèque woke up to a pleasant surprise on Saturday morning.

Claude Beaudin said he got up to go to the bathroom around 4 a.m on Saturday and, much to his surprise, a surge of power lit up the house. Like many in the area, he hadn't even considered the power being restored until that night at the earliest.

"I was really, really surprised. [The restoration crews] did a really fantastic job," he said.

• N.B. island cut off from mainland due to thunderstorm
• Power restored to most of the Acadian Peninsula

Initially, knowing how much work it took to restore power in the area following a major ice storm in January, he wasn't expecting such a quick turnaround.

Rushing home

Beaudin and his wife were home after cutting a vacation to Newfoundland short.

A friend had called them to tell them the bridge between Shippagan and Lamèque Island was closed after several electric poles fell onto it, leaving the island cut off from the mainland.

They rushed home to make sure their food didn't spoil.

When they arrived they had to wait four hours before they could get across the bridge, but Beaudin and his wife were relieved to find they hadn't lost any food.

"Luckily when we leave like that I always turn the thermostats down upstairs.… The freezer was perfect, there was nothing melted at all," he said.

Beaudin, who was without power for 10 days back in January, laughed at the situation, saying he stressed himself out for nothing.

'We didn't lose anything'

Employees at La P'tite Friture in Lamèque were relieved with the quick repairs, Annie-Claude LeBlanc said.

Despite having tons of frozen products such as ice cream, LeBlanc said they were prepared from the last storm.

"The boss just came in with a Delco [generator].… We didn't lose anything," she said.

She said they thought this time around would take longer as well, not expecting any progress until at least Saturday evening.

LeBlanc said when she woke up on Saturday morning, the power had come back on sometime during the night.

Because she remembers January's storm being "so long and dull," she was thankful for the quick work of the restoration crews, and especially thankful for the warmer weather.

As of 5 p.m. on Saturday, about 67 people in the area were still without power a day and a half after the violent thunderstorm. The majority of those residents are in the village of Pokeshaw.

NB Power estimated the power would be restored by 6 p.m.