Dalum, Hanna and surrounding area are continuing to have power struggles.
The power has been off and on and off again for customers in the surrounding communities.
December 18, 2015 Dalum resident Julie Eskeland said “I was up at 2:30 AM today and the power was on, however by 6:00 AM the power was off. So this morning I let the kids sleep in a bit. On Tuesday, the power was out for 13 hours.”
Eskeland explained that they have well water and without electricity there is no power going to the pumps. Her husband Jim hooked up their generator with a long extension cord and were able to hook up their furnace for heat.
She further explained that the frost on the lines is unusually thick and the sun’s warmth hasn’t been able to melt it.
Dalum resident Robbin Cooke said, “We have a wood stove, which we use all the time and I even did a little a cooking on it.”
She explained power has been flickering off and on since 4:00 AM this morning (December 18) and went off for good at 11:00.
“It only came on for 1/2 hour this morning, giving her time to make coffee and flush the toilets, she chuckles.
Eskeland said her family in Dalum has cell phone service, but the residents in Hanna didn’t even have that as the cell tower was also ”down” with frost.
Town of Hanna’s Chief Administration Officer Kim Neill said, “We are good right now. (2:00 PM December 18). They were out intermittently earlier and out completely from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM.”
Neill further explained that localized lines were down, not the whole town, the town office has 3 phase power, meaning some offices had lights and some offices only had computer access. He further explained that the Town of Hanna had no power on Tuesday for 12 hours. Some rural people have had power outages longer.
Neill said that Atco explained to him that they had 3 major transmission lines down and the biggest concern was the frost on the lines. Atco further explained that the lines are whipping now with the wind and to expect more outages.
Neill said, “A surprising number of people have generators. Emergency services, the lodge, fire halls and hospitals all have generators. “
ATCO 24 Emergency phone line, is a message saying to call back in 1.5 hours and that power is out due to ice on the power lines and that restoration is unknown.
