NB Power asks customers to unplug before power is restored

There are still more than 50,000 people without electricity, fourdays after post-tropical storm Arthur swept through New Brunswick.

NB Power announced on Mondayit could still be several days until power is restored to some customers around the province.

The utility is asking those customers who are still without power to unplug their electrical items.

"This 'cold load pickup' is causing repeat outages as we restore power and slowing our progress," NB Power posted on Twitter.

"It's much like tripping a circuit breaker in your home if your running the hairdryer and watching the TVand using the toaster," said the utility's MeghanGerrish.

The largest outage remains in Fredericton, where 27,184customers were still in the dark as of 9p.m. ATon Tuesday.

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There were also 7,600 customers without electricity in Woodstock, 7,161 in St. Stephen and 5,420 in Rothesay.

The greatest area of challenge remains NB Powers distribution system, which has been damaged by hundreds of large downed trees and broken branches.

Gerrish saidmost of the outages should be repaired by Wednesday night, but about 1,500 will have to wait until the weekend, a full seven days after post-tropical storm Arthur hit the region.

"Weare reaching out to those customers individually to speak to them and just to check in and see how people are doing, those who are going to be without power beyond the weekend," said Gerrish.

The high winds and heavy rain brought by the post-tropical storm caused power interruptions for about 200,000 customers throughout the weekend, the utility said. About 140,000 customers were without power at the peak of the outages.

NB Power is aiming to have power back on for 80 per cent of its customers within five days. The remaining 20 per cent should have their power back on by the weekend.

More than 200 crews were working in New Brunswick on Monday, trying to restore power. Additional crews came from Maine and Quebec to help NB Power.