Update

We did in fact lose power at around 3AM (or 2AM, depending when I was supposed to set my clock back, I guess.)

It was still off when I woke up, which made packing for Boston a pain in the ass. The power company was claiming that it would be back by 6PM on Monday, and the news that it might be Tuesday.

In point of actual fact, it was back on around noon, with phone and internet on within a couple of hours after that. I guess I could give props for getting it back on ahead of schedule but: A) there shouldn’t have been that much outage from a storm like this in the first place–see rants on essential services and private corporations, and B) they learned after Juan to give very conservative estimates.

Apparently around 170,000 people lost power due to this storm–which was pretty mild compared to Juan–which is ridiculously high.

I have nothing but respect for the dudes who were out there hooking power back up all night, all day, and are probably still at it, but I have nothing but contempt for the corporation that decides that it’s OK to use cheaper (read “more profitable”) infrastructure in order to raise profit margins. And, that same contempt for politicians who created this situation.

I kind of wish I had been able to go to down to the shore at the peak, though, since reports are that there were some 11 metre (Americans: 35 foot!) waves coming in. That would have been something to see (from a safe distance).

Here’s the CBC story:

Nova Scotians assess damage after storm
Nova Scotia Power says it could be days before everyone is reconnected

The powerful remnants of Hurricane Noel knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses, and damaged property and roads around Nova Scotia overnight.

…

There are no reports of deaths related to Noel. About 170,000 homes and businesses — one-third of Nova Scotia Power’s customer base — lost electricity because of toppled trees and power lines.

By Sunday afternoon, the utilty said power had been restored to 40 per cent of those who lost it. However, the utility said it could be late Tuesday night before power was reconnected in 31 communities.

…

Down the shore at Queensland Beach, a section of the road was torn up to the point that some residents said it looked like an earthquake had hit.

One witness told CBC News that waves that seemed to be as tall as an office building swept up to her front yard, littering it with small boulders.

…

I saw no real evidence of major damage on my drives around town, and then through Nova Scotia, New Bruswick, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, but according to local TV the storm did some pretty good damage in coastal Mass, so maybe it was worse on the coast.