Troops deployed in NB

Photo: The Canadian Press

New Brunswick's premier says the military is sending between 100 and 150 troops to help with recovery efforts in the areas that have been hardest hit by last week's ice storm.

Brian Gallant told a news conference in Shippagan Sunday that soldiers are being deployed over the next 24 hours in the effort to assist local authorities by going door-to-door to check in on residents, clear debris and distribute water and other essentials.

"We should see quite a presence tomorrow in the region," Gallant said. "Everybody is in a mode in which we understand that every minute counts, every hour counts and every day counts, and we're all focused on one thing."

Gallant says discussions of cost have been put aside until after the crisis as security continues to be top priority.

"You can't put a price on people's safety," Gallant said.

New Brunswick Power reported that more than 25,000 customers were affected by the outages Sunday, the bulk of them on the Acadian peninsula, where the impact of Wednesday's storm has been most severe.

The Canadian Armed Forces sent in a recon team Saturday to see how to best direct their efforts in response to the premier's request for help.

Gallant welcomed the military back-up, acknowledging there are several days of work ahead to get the entire province back on the electrical grid, especially in areas where most of the affected communities are cut off from power.

Around 350 crews worked under strenuous conditions Sunday that have stalled restoration efforts, Gallant says, such as extreme ice loading on lines, which has even caused new outages on the Acadian Peninsula. He said in certain areas, the extent of the damage to electrical equipment has been more severe than expected.

The says 31 people are being treated for what is believed to be carbon monoxide poisoning as of Sunday. It's a more than fourfold increase in cases from the day. Two deaths last week were also believed to be caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.