Still some local power outages

With thousands of people now enduring their sixth day without power, stories of ruined Christmas plans seem to be everywhere. We met with a north Burlington family who had a very special Christmas dinner planned; but it’s one that still hasn’t happened.

The dining room table at the Coverdale farm in Burlington remains dressed for holiday guests who did not arrive. The home has hosted the family Christmas dinner for over 80 years. But without power for over a week now, the family matriarch Barbara Coverdale had to postpone their festive plans: Christmas means everything. Everybody feels like they’re coming home. So there’s no way that I’d ever cancel Christmas.”

Barbara has been preparing for Christmas day for three weeks. This one has been a very emotional one for the Coverdale clan. It is the first without Barabra’s husband George. The family patriach died last February. This Christmas was going to be a special time to honour him and remember him.

Barbara said: “Oh, he was everything. In one way I guess I wanted to make this Christmas special. For the family, because it would be the first one without him. And I took extra pains to make sure the house was decorated and everything.

Hydro crews have been working around the clock to restore power to their customers. But the Coverdales don’t understand that, with all the technology available to us, how something like this can go on for so long.

Kim Coverdale says: “We understand being out here it’s part of our life, it can happen, it will happen. But for six days, we’ve been six days. We just want to know why”

The Coverdale’s live in a rural part of Burlington, and Kim believes she knows the answer to her own question: “I think they forgot about us, they knew it was bad, but they were too busy in downtown Burlington. This was not a priority, downtown Burlington was a priority.”

Despite being in the cold for nearly a week and missing Christmas Day, the Coverdales remain in high spirits. Barbara has some big Christmas plans the instant power is restored in her house: “Well, I’m thinking if it comes on today, we might have it tommorow.”

Fortunately for the Coverdale’s, the power was restored to them just before 6pm Friday. Burlington Hydro say about 50 homes are still without power, down from 120 earlier today.