Sunnyside braves the cold, serves up hot chocolate

By William Crooks

Local Journalism Initiative

On the morning of Nov. 27, many in the Townships woke up with no electricity after the first substantial snowfall of the season. From Stanstead to Georgeville, Richmond to Ayer’s Cliff, spots of power outage dotted the region in darkness. Rolling with the punches, Sunnyside Elementary held special activities and a creative lunch for the students that braved the slippery Stanstead roads to attend school.

“It was a mix of heavy snow and rain that was a little all over the place,” said Sébastien Martineau, Hydro Quebec’s Community Relations Advisor for the Estrie region. There are outages everywhere, he continued, caused by the wet snow weighing down branches and touching or breaking the power lines underneath. Some whole trees came down.

For some outages, it is easy for Hydro Quebec to predict when they will be fixed. When the outage is merely caused by a branch temporarily touching and shorting out the line, they have a method of restoring power “long-distance”. If a branch continues to touch the line, or has broken it, flesh and blood workers need to be sent to fix the problem. Sometimes that means lengthy repairs, including managing the offending branch or tree or even changing the utility pole.

Once the workers are on the scene, which takes time in and of itself, they can assess the situation and predict a likely time that power will be restored. Each outage will have a different cause and a different remedy.

Between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. of Nov. 27, Hydro Quebec had re-established power for 3,000 Estrie residents. 40,000 homes in total were initially without power. They will continue to work until everyone regains electricity, Martineau insisted.

“Because we were unable to have hot lunch today… we decided to do something special for the kids,” said Sunnyside Secretary Heather Stratton. They barbecued hotdogs and had a wealth of other snacks, including watermelon, sweets, and veggies and dip. A large communal pot of hot chocolate was brewed on the grill and distributed. “It was really party time.”

Some 15 students attended school in the circumstances. Because the roads were bad and there was no power, many parents decided to keep their children home. The school stays open, even with no electricity, and regained it around noon; the buses still all ran their regular routes.

The morning’s activities included an extended recess, and some classes began decorating for Christmas. “We did fun things,” Stratton said with a chuckle.