People in the west coast town of Gallants have been without electricity and phone service since Thursday night, and they’re not quite sure why.
Mayor Todd Brake contacted VOCM News to say he has been unable to get answers from Newfoundland Power or Bell, adding it’s a serious safety issue with so many seniors left to their own devices.
Brake has been busy making the rounds to ensure residents have basic needs met until the power and phones have been restored.
But his wife, Iris Brake, says they’re just praying there won’t be an emergency in the interim. She says while they have a generator to keep cell service, others remain in the lurch.
“Most people here don’t have that,” she said. “If we need an ambulance, I don’t know, other than us, I don’t know how we’re going to get one. My husband called about the phones, the landlines, and he got put through to Bangladesh.”
Brake says while the weather hasn’t been great the past couple of days, it wasn’t bad enough to stop residents from driving west to Stephenville or east to Corner Brook.
She says the power and phone interruptions have become far too frequent.
“It wouldn’t be a big thing, but it’s just that it happens so often. The cabin owners get their power back before they even look at us, and we’re a town, with a lot of seniors, with no heat, and into our third day, and some people won’t leave their house. There’s this one lady, I keep bringing her over tea and I can’t get her to leave, and she’s 84, going on 85 years old.”
The Newfoundland Power website states the outage is affecting just over 200 people and is a result of severe weather in the area, with estimated restoration time now delayed until 11 p.m. this evening.
