“Getting a little cold in here,” was one comment made over the weekend by a resident in response to a lengthy power outage in Fort Smith, attributed to the extremely cold weather which gripped the territory.
Starting Friday afternoon at 1 p.m., the blackout lasted for some NWT Power Corporation customers until 8:15 p.m.
Fort Smith was _25C on Friday, and a wind chill level of -35C.
“We are continuing to experience generation issues at the local power plant … the reliability of electricity service will remain uncertain,” the utility stated late Friday.
“NTPC and its employees are doing everything possible to restore service as quickly as possible.”
The Town of Fort Smith opened a warming centre for people. Many residents expressed concerns online for pets and aquariums.
On Saturday, the Power Corp. stated “power has remained stable,” but could be hindered by the cold temperatures, which had prompted weather warnings for the territory.
It asked customers to keep their power consumption as low as possible.
Extreme cold alerts continue on Monday morning for Łutsel K’e and Gamètì with wind chill values near -50C will continue this morning, easing slightly later in the day.
Power generation struggles with frigid weather across NWT
Fort Smith's power cut for up to seven hours on Friday; NWT Power Corp pleads for conservation over weekend
Ice fog blanketed Yellowknife for most of the weekend as winter temperatures set in. The city experienced a short outage in recent days, but nothing compared to what diesel-reliant Fort Smith had to deal with. (James O'Connor/CKLB)
