Power has been reinstated in sections of Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., following the disruption of power lines due to strong winds on Saturday. Belinda Whitford, the chief operating officer of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC), mentioned that the initial outages occurred at approximately 2 a.m. on Saturday.
Although the local plant operator promptly restored power after the first incident, power lines were once again brought down several hours later when debris from a building’s roof was blown off, resulting in a community-wide outage. Throughout Saturday, the community faced blizzard conditions and high wind warnings, with gusts exceeding 90 km/h, but those alerts have now been lifted by Environment Canada.
Whitford indicated that the local plant operator succeeded in partially restoring power early Sunday morning to specific parts of the community, including the airport. However, a complete resolution of the situation is expected to take some time due to known damage that will require significant repair efforts.
While Whitford mentioned that there is no confirmed damage to poles or transformers, the extent of the damage still needs to be assessed by the crews. In a subsequent update on Sunday afternoon, NTPC announced that a line crew and an electrician are set to arrive in the community at around 4:40 p.m.
The Ulukhaktok Inuit Co-op remains closed for the day as the store’s power lines were damaged, and parts of the building’s roof were blown off, as stated in a social media post. On the other hand, the health center and school, both equipped with power generators, have been opened as warming shelters for the community.