How Islanders are coping without power after Hurricane Dorian
'You just have to be patient. It comes on when it comes on'
Thousands of Islanders are still without power following Hurricane Dorian and could be for several days, leaving many trying to get by in the dark.
Several neighbourhoods in Charlottetown alone are without electricity.
Noel Foster in Parkwood Estates spent Monday morning cleaning up debris around his property. He said this is the longest his home has ever been without power.
"When you don't really have any internet or communication, it's really hard to find information about things," Foster said.
"You just have to be patient. It comes on when it comes on."
We're doing the best we can with what we've got to work with.— Adeline Smith
Foster's father Mike was also helping with clean up. He said his own home in New London has been without power since Saturday night.
"We came here hoping that his power would be on but it isn't," Mike said. He has yet to clean up his own property where several trees have fallen and the house lost several shingles, causing the roof to leak.
"I'm tired," he said. "We're just going to kind of take it a day at a time."
Seniors were without power
While power has since been restored, some seniors' housing units on Hunt Avenue were in the dark Monday afternoon when CBC spoke to them.
"They're scared," said resident Francis Trainor. "They don't know what's going on. They don't know what to expect."
Even the emergency lights were out in the building, meaning residents had to navigate through dark stairwells, hallways and rooms.
"I take a flashlight and I take whatever I can in the other hand just in case," said fellow resident Adeline Smith.
Smith is also one of many in the building that's dealing with a fridge and freezer full of spoiled food. She estimates that she's lost close to $300 worth of groceries.
In the mean time, she's been making trips to a nearby Tim Horton's for meals.
"We're doing the best we can with what we've got to work with and we don't have too much to work with," Smith said.
'It's very scary'
Beth Whittaker's mother lives in the home. Her mom has significant health issues and uses an alarm system for emergencies, but with the power out, that alarm system didn't work.
The landlines in the building weren't functioning, which meant Whittaker had to travel from her home in Hunter River to check on her mom.
"It is scary. It's very scary. Every time that alarm company phones and says you know 'We can't get your mother' and I'm 20 miles out," Whitaker said.
There wasn't much Whittaker and her family could do about it because she herself is without power. Her mom is also not well enough to climb any stairs so is "just kind of stuck."