“Emergency officials have determined it is safe to reopen all Charlottetown schools,” a news release from the province said Thursday afternoon. “When possible, parents are encouraged to walk children to school or to their bus stops until they are sure the route is safe,” the statement said. “Parents are also asked to discuss safety with their children.” The announcement spelled out the need to keep a safe distance from crews, avoid playgrounds and other facilities that are closed, and take extra care when crossing roads because some traffic lights are still not working. On Wednesday, students attending Donagh Regional returned to school and Cardigan Consolidated students resumed classes in a temporary location at Montague Regional High School. This leaves École Évangéline in Abram-Village as the only school to remain closed on Friday. Classes are moving to L’Exposition Agricole et le Festival Acadien — but the start date has not yet been announced. More than 200 crews are working to restore power to PEI (Tony Davis/CBC News) According to Maritime Electric, about 8,700 customers were still without power as of late Thursday afternoon, 13 days after subtropical storm Fiona made landfall in PEI and knocked out power across the island. Kim Griffin, a spokesman for Maritime Electric, told Matt Rainnie on Mainstreet Thursday that the maritime outage map shows slightly higher numbers Thursday than it did Wednesday because more isolated outages were found as power was restored to other areas. “There were some fluctuations in our map today that you can imagine, you know, they definitely caught the attention of some of our customers and we certainly didn’t want to stress people out if we did,” Griffin said. He said more than 1,000 customers in Charlottetown had their power restored Wednesday night, as well as 800 in parts of central PEI and several hundred in the east. “We feel like it’s getting late, like, we’re finding out that some of the places we’re getting to are taking a little longer, but we’re still focused on trying to get the vast majority by Sunday,” he said. “In the west, we’ve started to get some people, so that’s a good sign. And in the central and the east, we’re still focusing on a number of small pockets of the community, whether it’s, you know, 25 here and 30 here … so it’s very intense to go”. About 1,000 customers in Charlottetown remain without power, according to Maritime Electric. (Shane Ross/CBC) Crews are still battling downed trees in some areas and haven’t yet been able to see what the damage looks like in others, Griffin said. “We haven’t been to cottages, seasonal areas, we haven’t even come close to it yet.” Griffin said there are still about 1,000 customers in parts of Charlottetown waiting for power to be restored, “and then out east there’s still a big chunk of work still being done up there.” Out-of-county crews will remain through the weekend with the plan to remain on the island until power is fully restored, Griffin said. “Our customers are exhausted and just want to activate their power, so it’s really a tough time.” Despite their disappointment, Griffin said “people are still just wonderful … just very nice people.”
Police warning of new scam
Charlottetown police are also warning Islanders to be on the lookout for a texting scam on Fiona. According to a media release, some islanders are receiving messages from a number claiming to be associated with the Hurricane Fiona Relief Fund offering $250. The text includes a link to click to apply. However, the Red Cross, which administers the relief fund, does not send text messages directing you to apply. Islanders can register with the Red Cross online or by phone. (Kirk Pennell/CBC) Police are asking island residents not to click on the link. Instead, delete the message and block the number. Islanders can still apply for financial support by registering with the Red Cross online or by phone.
