50 Hours with No Power, Telephone, Internet or Water!

 

 Thursday, January 31st -

Here in southern New Brunswick we are presently in the midst of a severe wind and rain event.  Our power has been flickering on and off all morning and at about noon it flickered off and forgot to flicker on again.

In the sub-division where I live we are on a community well.  What that means is, if there is no power to run the pump, we have no water; which means unless you had the foresight to fill some large drinking containers and your bathtub with water you will have no drinking water, no water for washing up and most disturbing to me, no water to flush the toilet….yuck!

By mid-afternoon the main part of the storm has now passed so we head out to the grocery store to stock up on some necessary supplies and to survey the damage.  We see numerous downed trees, lots of debris and we hear on the news there is close to 40,000 people without power.

As we hunker down for what is sure to be a long evening and night, we are feeling lucky.   The temperature is now hovering around minus 10 degrees celsius, but we have a wood burning stove in our familyroom and a cord of wood in our garage.  If we close the doors on the non-essential rooms, we will be warm.

We gather flashlights, light some candles and order a pizza.

Friday, February 1st - 

Still no power, phone or internet but thanks to a huge generator outside the well pump house, we now have water which means we can wash and flush our toilets…yay!

While my husband keeps the home fires burning my daughter and I head out in search of coffee, a place to charge our cell phones and a few more supplies.  Early in the evening, to relieve a bit of boredom and cabin fever we decide to go for a walk.  Except for the droning of a few generators our neighbourhood is eerily quiet.

The temperature is forecast to go down to minus 18 degrees celsius tonight; we make sandwiches for dinner, open a bottle of wine and again feel thankful we have a woodstove and therefore, some heat.

We basically move into our familyroom and I joke that I feel like”Carolyn Ingalls” and our familyroom with its glowing fire, blown up camping bed in the corner and our little table laden with food has become our “Little House on the Prairie”.

We pass the evening playing Yahtzee, reading, talking and enjoying some guitar and harmonica music, courtesy of my husband and daughter, before we snuggle into beds covered in layers of duvets and blankets.

Saturday, February 2nd -

It is minus 17 celsius outside and although much warmer here in the house, it is very chilly this morning!   Our woodstove is trying its best but is having a tough time keeping up with the frigid temperatures.

My husband is splitting some wood and our daughter is still sleeping as I head out in search of coffee and hopefully an NBPower truck.  I find hot coffee and freshly baked cinnamon rolls, but alas, no power truck.

After a leisurely, but chilly breakfast of coffee, juice and cinnamon rolls we spend the morning reading the paper and speculating when our power and phone may be restored.  We didn’t have much longer to wait, about 1PM my hubby let out a whoop and yells, “quick, come and see this”.  My daughter and I rush to the window and there, accompanied by a police escort is a small parade of six Quebec Hydro trucks! Yipee…the calvary has arrived from the next province, bonjour mes amis!!

An hour later our power and telephone has been restored and thankfully our 50 hours with no power, telephone, internet or (for many hours) water is now just a fun memory.