Some Fort Resolution, N.W.T. residents left without power for over 10 hours after extended outage
Cause of outage unknown, says Northwest Territories Power Corporation
An extended power outage in Fort Resolution, N.W.T., left some residents without power for over 10 hours.
The outages began at around 1 p.m., said Tom Beaulieu, the administer for the Hamlet of Fort Resolution.
The Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) supplies and distributes electricity in Fort Resolution. NTPC confirmed the outage was impacting the entire community in a social media announcement at around 1:30 p.m.
"The cause is currently unknown. Restoration efforts are underway. Additional resources are on site to support restoration," the announcement said.
In a 4 p.m. update, NTPC said power had been restored to approximately half of Fort Resolution.
"Staff are working with remaining customers to create a more gradual increase in load as we bring these customers back online," NTPC said in the update.
Louis Balsillie, chief of Deninu Kųę́ First Nation in Fort Resolution, told CBC News that as of 11 p.m., about 30 community members were still without power.
In its most recent update, NTPC said it was working to bring in additional crews to solve the problem. Balsillie said he was told those crews likely will not arrive until 1 a.m.
The temperature in Fort Resolution was -28 at noon on Saturday, and had risen to -23 by 11 p.m.
The Hamlet of Fort Resolution is asking all residents to conserve as much power as possible until power is fully restored.