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Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
According to North Slave regional director Randy Patrick, the entire grid, including the communities of Yellowknife, Dettah, Ndilo and Rae-Edzo were shut down by the power outage.
He added that extremely cold weather could have been a factor.
Power went out across the North Slave at approximately 1:10 p.m. It returned about 40 minutes later, but on diesel power only.
A critical period, said Patrick, is the first few hours after work, when most people have returned home, and are switching on lights and appliances.
"We're on right now, but we're right on the limit," said Patrick late yesterday afternoon.
As of press time, some hydro power was returning to the grid, but Patrick was urging customers to exercise conservation throughout the night.
The problem was severe enough for the utility to call upon commercial customers, particularly major power consumers such as Bellanca Developments, Miramar Mines, and the City of Yellowknife, to run on emergency power only.
"We've been on standby since quarter to two," said Bellanca Developments general manager Kelly Hayden. "All four of our buildings are off-line."
Jennifer Marchant, general manager of Centre Square Developments, said all commercial power to the mall and office tower, including Northern Heights condos, was shut down at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Businesses closed early for the day, and workers were sent home.
Greg Kehoe, director of public services with the city, said while the situation was serious, back-up generators could keep the city's water pipes and sewage systems operational for several days without hydro power.
He added that the city's emergency operations centre was in contact with NWT Power Corp, but no emergency was declared.
"In case of these circumstances, we could last quite a while," said Kehoe. "It would be days, not hours."
