Greater Sudbury Utilities will repair the damage to yards it created while trying to access power lines in the wake the July 9 storm.
That's the message Wendy Watson, director of communications for Greater Sudbury Utilities, is telling residents affected by the storm.
“If we had to damage someone's property to get to a back lot, or even a front lot, to get to our lines to repair them, we are going to fix it,” she said. “I can't say that plainly enough.
“We had to drive some heavy equipment through people's backyards. We've all seen the photos and video on the news, and we did everything we could to be respectful of people's property. Residents were fantastic, for the most part, given it's a very emotional time for them.”
Greater Sudbury Utilities wants to hear from those residents whose property was access by hydro crews to repair lines, she said. If the homeowner was asked to remove part of their fence, or if hydro workers had to remove the fence, then those are the people who need to contact the utility.
“To be frank, we want to get this done as quickly as possible,” Watson said. “We have had project co-ordinators going out to look at the damage. We've heard from many of these resident already, and the best thing they can do is call our main line at 705-675-7536.”
Greater Sudbury Utilities is amassing its own insurance claim, and the costs associated with repairing that damage will be included. That's why the soon the better to hear from those residents, Watson said.
“We want to make it right,” she said. “We will have a number of the cost of this storm for Hydro, but it's too soon to know right now.”
Crews made a list of such properties where it had to access their yards to repair lines, but there was a lot going on in the days after the storm, and there were a lot of crews in the field working to get power back to customers.
Even as of July 18, crews were still working on reconnecting some homes where there was damage to their service mast, Watson said, and some call are still trickling in.
