SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — Summerside firefighters responded to more than 40 calls Saturday as wind and rain from the remnants of hurricane Dorian ravaged Summerside in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
“It was unreal. Once it started going it just never slowed down,” said Deputy Chief Clay Moase.
He added that the majority of calls the department received were in relation to downed power lines causing small fires.
Dorian dumped 90 millimetres of rain on Summerside with wind gusts of 115 kilometres per hour hitting the city. North Cape registered the strongest gusts of wind with 122 km/h.
All of the mayors and fire chiefs from across Prince County who spoke with the Journal Pioneer Sunday reported largely the same issues, downed power lines, flooded basements and trees falling across roads or power lines.
Kensington Mayor Rowan Caseley said the scope of the damage in his community alone was hard to comprehend.
He said one resident he spoke with had three large trees come down, one landed on a truck, the other on a car and the third on their house.
“We’ve got a lot of damage, I can tell you that,” said Caseley.
As for the power situation in the county, as of Sunday afternoon Maritime Electric reported 55,000 customers still without electricity. The company stated it was mobilizing 40 people in the province to assess the situation and start restoring power.
Gordon MacFarlane, Summerside’s deputy chief administrative officer, said the city had successfully re-energized about half of its power grid’s 11 circuits by noon on Sunday. However, there was no estimate available as to when the remaining circuits would be back on.
MacFarlane added that within each of those circuits there would still be individual or groups of homes without power, mostly due to downed power lines in isolated sections.
Summerside Electric and Municipal Works crews were working to clear trees from lines and make repairs.
The city also asked residents to stay home and off the roads on Sunday if possible, as increasing traffic was hampering restoration work.
Summerside Mayor Basil Stewart praised all the municipal staff’s efforts.
“We’ve got a very capable staff. They’re all working hard and doing the best they can,” said Stewart.
Many Summerside streets were completely or partially blocked by trees and power lines that had come down in the night, while a number of signs and traffic lights were damaged and out of commission. Local farmers also reported the loss of crops, especially tall standing ones like corn.
The city opened a charging and warming station at city hall as of noon, Sunday and some local business with power were starting to do the same. Evermoore Brewing Company on Water Street offered free soup to anyone who needed something to eat and was bringing in entertainment for the afternoon.
The city is expected to announce where residents can start dropping off tree debris on Monday.
There were no reports of any injuries in East Prince as of Sunday morning.
