Tracadie faces food shortage on Day 9 of power outages from ice storm

Power is slowly being restored in Tracadie, and town officials expect to lift the state of emergency by Friday, but residents are now dealing with a food shortage and bracing for another possible storm on Monday.

The number of outages in the municipality from last week's major ice stormhas been reduced to about 1,060, as of early Thursday, down from the approximately 20,000 NB Power customers without electricity when the mayor declared the state of emergency on Jan. 27.

But even those lucky enough to bereconnected went days without power and lost all the food in their fridges.

The Au Rayon d'Espoir food bank, whichis used to serving up to 40 people on a busy day, is nowserving closer to 140 people onsite and at the community warming centreatl'coleLeTremplin, which is now doubling as a makeshift food box pickup, saidmanager Roger St. Pierre.

Supplies are dwindling, he said.

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The provincial government has donated$100,000 to food banksin regions hardest hit by the storm, which include Tracadie and the rest of the Acadian Peninsula, wherethe bulk of the province's remaining5,000 or so outages are located.

The trouble has been finding food to buy, said St. Pierre, who is also the treasurer of the Association of New Brunswick Food Banks.

"Usually, I go to stores inTracadie, but I emptied those stores," he said. "So I have to work with people in Miramichi and Caraquet."

On Thursday, he had to be inBathurst, so he stopped by theWalmartto buy some peanut butter and Cheese Whiz.

The food bank, whose name translates to Ray of Hope, tries to give people enough food to last three to five days, or enough to give "food security," said St. Pierre. "That's our mission."

Anyone who has non-perishable food items they're willing to donate is urged to drop them off at the food bank, 613rue Rivire la Truite,or the warming centre at 520 rue de l'glise, he said.

Those in need are encouraged to call ahead at 606-395-6537, particularly those with young children, because the boxes can be tailored to meet individual needs, such baby formula and diapers.

Volunteers are helping to deliver the boxes to those who can't leave their homes, said St. Pierre.

'Not stopping until everybody is safe'

Meanwhile, town and EMO operations have moved back into the town hall from the NB Power operations centre now that power has been restored, said general managerDenis Poirier.

"It's going pretty well," he said, withramped-up efforts to deliverfood to those in need,warming centres running 24 hours a day and members of the Canadian Armed Forces going door-to-door in some areas.

"We're not stopping until everybody is safe."

Another storm may hit the region on Monday, "so hopefully the system will keep running," said Poirier.

"It all depends what kind of snow."

So far, the Environment Canada's forecast for Monday includes only flurries.

Much of the power infrastructure in the areais still coated with thick ice.

"If it's heavy snow and it sticks to the lines, it will be another challenge," said Poirier.