Kana:takon, Tsi Snaihne had more than 344 power outages since 2019
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AKWESASNE — A power outage lasting over 24 hours impacted over 1,000 residents of Kana:takon (St. Regis) and Tsi Snaihne (Snye) earlier this week.
Unfortunately, this isn’t new for Hydro Québec customers who live in the region.
Strategic communications adviser Cendrix Bouchard said from 2019-23, the area has had by 344 power outages. Of those outages, 269 lasted less than five minutes and 297 lasted less than one hour. This means that about 47 lasted longer than one hour. Statistics for 2024 are not yet available.
“Hydro Québec has been working with the community to find solutions to help reduce the occurrence of outages since 2021,” Bouchard said. “Technical meetings were held with community members in March and May 2023. We have also been doing vegetation control work, including tree pruning and tree felling, since June 2023. We are in the planning phase for additional work in order to increase the resilience of our network in the area.”
The cause of the power outage this past Sunday and Monday was a downed tree in a swamp interfering with a distribution line, attributed to the suspected work of a beaver, said Bouchard.
“We had to use a helicopter to locate the exact cause of the outage considering the water level and the cold, in order to prioritize our line workers safety,” he added.
The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) was very active on social media throughout the this week’s power outage. Posts encouraged loved ones to check in with neighbours and elders. Volunteer fire departments assisted with restoration efforts.
MCA offices and Ahkwesahsne Mohawk Board of Education (AMBE) schools were closed Monday. A warming shelter was set up at Tsi Tetewatakens Senior Centre in Hogansburg and meals were provided.
“The most recent power outage lasted over 24 hours and has caused the community a great deal of hardship,” said MCA Grand Chief Abram Benedict. “We understand the outage was caused by a downed tree on the lines in a secluded area between the Tsi Snaihne and Dundee. Access to the location was difficult and we continue to call on Hydro Québec to make the necessary improvements to improve reliability to Akwesasne.”
Hydro Québec said it’s committed to improving its services.
“In fact, this is the first objective in our (2035 action plan) towards a decarbonized and prosperous Québec. We will be investing to make the power grid more durable over the long-term, $45 to $50 billion between now and 2035 — almost double the annual investments made in network sustainability over the past three years,” said Bouchard.
“It must also be noted that we experienced a particularly difficult year in 2023 due to the weather and in part to the effects of an ice storm in April, as well as forest fires affecting important parts of the province.”
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