Power outages shut down schools, businesses in HRM

Widespread power outages affected the Halifax Regional Municipality on Thursday, closing schools and businesses for most of the day.

More than 242,000 of Nova Scotia Power’s 500,000 customers — nearly half — were without power Thursday morning. By 6:30 p.m. all but 37,000 were reconnected.

In a statement, NS Power said crews are working to restore power as soon as possible. In HRM, Dartmouth is the only area still experiencing outages. The power is expected to be back on at 11:30 p.m.

The power company said the cause of the outage was the protective system shut-off that connects New Brunswick’s power supply to Nova Scotia. Protective systems prevent damage to power grids when there is a voltage surge or spike.

My apartment is so cold with no heat. ):

— ben (@benjmnq) November 29, 2018

The Halifax Regional Centre for Education initially kept its schools open, but later in the morning announced they would close for the day.

PLEASE NOTE: All HRCE schools are CLOSING for the remainder of the day (Thurs, Nov 29) due to widespread power outages. More details: https://t.co/dAPoTs0lp4

— Halifax Regional Centre for Education (@HRCE_NS) November 29, 2018

The Department of Environment in Bedford, Access Nova Scotia and Registry of Motor Vehicle locations in Halifax, Dartmouth, Bridgewater, and Lower Sackville were all closed.

Most Halifax Public Libraries were closed for the day.

@nspowerinc hey NS Power, we’ve been out of power since 9 am (just bought groceries last night ) and there’s 5 snowflakes on the ground in our area. What’s going on?? Why are we still out if Halifax has been resolved.

— Carmen Elizabeth (@carmensampler) November 29, 2018

Mic Mac Mall didn’t open until 1 p.m., while the Halifax Shopping Centre opened at 1:30 p.m.

Classes at Saint Mary’s University were cancelled until 5 p.m. and Mount Saint Vincent University reopened for classes at 4 p.m.

All of Dalhousie University’s campuses were closed for the day, except for Sexton.

Power outages can be reported to Nova Scotia Power at 1-877-428-6004.