'I don't think it stopped people': Charlottetown businesses deal with major power outage
Second power outage in less than 24 hours occurred shortly before noon Friday
Businesses and other locations in Charlottetown had to deal with the second power outage in less than 24 hours on Friday.
Shortly before noon Friday the power went out for thousands of Maritime Electric customers. Many of those were in Charlottetown, with outages in southeastern P.E.I. and parts of Queens County as well.
Paige Hart, the owner and operator of Holy Fox, an eatery that's part of the new Founders' Food Hall and Market, said the market officially opened to the public today, just before the outage.
"We were thrilled. We were looking forward to it for months," said Hart of the opening.
She said her staff and many others in the building had just begun to serve food when the power shut off. Her business had to stop their oven because their vent wasn't working.
Hart said she had been at the market the night before to prepare for the opening when the first power outage happened. She thinks she lost "significant" revenue Friday from a large crowd after the annual Gold Cup Parade, but isn't worried.
"What can you do? Just put your smile on, get through it, hope the power will come back on and cook your food," said Hart.
'That's the Islander way for you'
Rita Jrej owns Big Burger, which operates near Holy Fox in the same market.
Her business's grills run on propane, so she said they started taking orders "the old fashioned way" and kept most services running.
"Maybe we lost a little bit of business, but I don't think it stopped people," Jrej said.
She said customers were helpful and understanding about the outage. "That's the Islander way for you," she said.
Stopped mid-chop
Monica Ramsay is the manager of Supercuts hair salon in Charlottetown.
"Our lights started flickering like crazy," said Ramsay.
She said they probably lost between six and eight clients because hair clippers and blow dryers weren't working, but she also isn't feeling any pressure.
"Hair's still going to grow," said Ramsay. She said she's sure most of the clients will return.
Lost pizzas
Sandun Pahala Gedara works at Little Caesars in the city.
He said they had four or five pizzas in the oven at the time of the outage.
"We had some customers up there, and had to give the money back."
They also had to tell customers it would be about a half-hour for the ovens to warm up again for future orders.
Ventilation affected at UPEI
The Charlottetown Fire Department was called just after noon to UPEI's K.C. Irving building for what was thought to be a flammable-liquids spill.
A UPEI spokesperson told CBC the power outage likely played a role. The fumes were discovered in a lab and the ventilation system was down in that lab because of the power outage.
Fire officials told CBC that when they arrived, the spill was gone but there was an odour.
The building was evacuated and fire crews started trying to ventilate the centre to clear the smell.
No one was injured.