'It's a nightmare:' Prince Edward Island electric crews help restore power in Eastern New Brunswick.

'It's devastating for the people of New Brunswick, and their system and their customers'

By Sara Fraser, CBC News Posted: Jan 30, 2017 2:00 PM AT Last Updated: Jan 30, 2017 2:00 PM AT

Maritime Electric crews mobilized quickly to travel to New Brunswick Sunday and immediately begin work to help restore power to thousands after last week's ice storm.

Maritime Electric crews travel to New Brunswick to help with power outage

As of 9:50 a.m. Monday, there were more than 21,000 outages across New Brunswick, most of them in the Acadian Peninsula. The number of

households that lost power reached 133,000 after the storm hit last Tuesday night.

"They started on Sunday afternoon as soon as they arrived," said Maritime Electric spokeswoman Kim Griffin.

The crews had been kept busy on P.E.I. last week after the same storm knocked out power to about 1,600 customers.

"We're pretty proud of them, that they could do that to help out," said Griffin, adding that not one employee turned down the work in New Brunswick.

"It's devastating for the people of New Brunswick, and their system and their customers," said Griffin. "You just never know what's going to happen with Mother Nature."

Martime Electric sent all the resources NB Power asked for — 14 people in seven crews, working in Tracadie, N.B. to replace downed power poles.

Griffin is not sure how long the P.E.I. crews will be needed there.

"We certainly always make sure we have a strong foundation here on P.E.I. in case we're hit," Griffin added.

"They're not that far away if we see bad weather coming. So it's a judgement call."

'So sad'

NB Power was quick to come to P.E.I.'s aid last fall when an ice storm hit the Island, Griffin noted.

"Any time like this you'll find that utilities from region to region want to help each other," said Griffin.

"It's so sad about what's happened. It's probably one of the worst storms they've ever seen. They've had fatalities — it's a nightmare," she said.