James Bay hit by storm

In the early hours of Nov.18, Attawapiskat First Nation experienced a power outage during a heavy snowfall.
Christina Edwards, who is employed at Attawapiskat Power Corporation, said that the first trip in power occurred between 6 a.m and 7 a.m.
“We tried restoring hydro through generators, but it was impossible to do the whole community,” Edwards said. She said that the efforts to restore power continued throughout the day.
“We finally succeeded around 9 p.m.,” Edwards said, although not every residence in the community had their power restored. “We still have some residents who are without power. We are not back on the grid yet.”
It is estimated that Attawapiskat received four feet of snow in the storm.
“It cleared up now,” Edwards said. “There was lots of snow, and it was windy. It was mostly snow drifts.”
Edwards said that some of the shingles came off of the houses due to the wind, and that there were no injuries during the storm and power outage that she knew of.
Edwards said that they are still awaiting a response from Hydro One on the situation. The community is currently running on generators.
Other James Bay communities were hit by the storm and experienced power outages as well, including Moosonee, Moose Factory and Fort Albany. According to Environment Canada, the region experienced winds gusts of 80 kilometres per hour.
Attawapiskat Crisis Coordinator Dennis Koostachin posted a public notice on his Facebook profile stating that the community of Attawapiskat needs to “limit our hydro usage in order to supply power to the whole town.”
“Please turn off unnecessary power sources, etc. (water heater, washer/dryer, electronics) and decrease base board heaters if possible,” Koostachin instructed. “If we can minimize usage of power, we can generate the whole community until this matter is resolved.”
“This is an emergency, it’s possible to run on generators for two days or more, depending on the weather,” Koostachin stated.
Edwards is unsure of what caused the power outage.
“We have Hydro One patrolling the lines,” she said. “We will have more when they call me for an update.”