A retired professor says the Town of Sackville should do a better job of communicating with residents, especially seniors, about how they can get help during big storms like Hurricane Fiona, as the climate crisis leads to more extreme weather emergencies. 

"Basically, what I'm going to suggest to the town is that they make a plan so that everybody knows, before the emergency, what can they can expect to find open as a warming centre," she said.

Hammock's household lost power for roughly 65 hours, beginning early Saturday morning. Her home also lost its landline connection. 

At first, she was also unable to access data on her mobile phone.

Although her entire street was affected by the blackout, others in the neighbourhood were unaffected or regained power within 24 hours. 

She described her ordeal in an interview with CHMA on Tuesday:

CHMA reached out to officials from the Town of Sackville for comment.

“For Fiona, we had several days notice of the coming storm, which allowed us to communicate with residents on steps they should take to prepare,” Kieran Miller, senior manager of corporate projects, said in an email.

“During the storm, there was loss of power for various periods depending on the neighbourhood, but no significant impacts. There was no flooding [in Sackville], no major street closures, and many homes/businesses maintained power. We monitored the situation carefully throughout the weekend and provided updates on our Facebook page.”

The town used its social media channels to announce that people could warm up at the civic centre and the curling club. 

Miller acknowledged that very few people actually used the civic centre’s warming centre, saying that “could be attributed to warmer temperatures and access to power elsewhere.” 

But probably more people weren’t using it because they didn’t know it existed, according to Hammock, who outlined her concerns in an email to town councillor Bill Evans. 

Evans told Hammock her concerns would be shared with the rest of council.