Province monitoring Lee, activates to Level 1

While the Province continues to monitor the outcome and impact of Hurricane Lee, residents of Prince Edward Island are being asked to review their emergency plans in advance of the weekend.

It is still too early to determine Lee’s exact track and outcomes, but current forecasts indicate that the storm will bring winds ranging from 60 kilometres per hour to 80 kilometres per hour, heavy rain at times, and the possibility of storm surge in some areas.

As a result of collaborative briefings with the Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), PEI’s Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) activated to level 1 Enhanced Monitoring as of 8:00am Thursday September 14.

“Islanders have been strong and resilient to storms that have hit our Province over the past few years, and we have learned that the best defence is to properly plan for a weather event before it arrives. We plan to take this day-by-day and want Islanders to understand that while this is not anticipated to be a major storm event, we still need to properly prepare – that means think of what to do in a power outage, have your emergency kits ready, and not going near open water when storm surge warnings are in effect.” 

- Minister of Justice and Public Safety and Chair of the Major Incident Readiness Team (MIRT) Bloyce Thompson.

There are three levels to emergency alert status: 1) Enhanced Monitoring; 2) Partial Activation; and 3) Full Activation.

While in level 1 activation, EMO staff will:

• Continue to closely monitor Lee with updates from CHC expected every 6 hours through the weekend;
• Daily briefings will continue between PEI EMO, CHC and ECCC with provincial Department Emergency Service Officers now having access to the briefings;
• PEI EMO will hold regular contact meetings with critical infrastructure partners, as well as continuing to reach out to reception centres to identify services;
• PEI EMO will remain in contact with EMOs from neighbouring provinces to offer and ask for assistance should it be needed;
• PEI EMO will remain in contact with Public Safety Canada for their situational awareness throughout the activation.

“We continue to monitor Hurricane Lee’s final track and are encouraged by the reports we are receiving, but we know that we must stay vigilant in our preparations for the benefit of our Island.” said Director of Emergency Management Nick Policelli. “Activating emergency levels are an important tool in the toolbox of emergency organizations, and while we know these activations bring back harsh memories for some, we want to stress that we are still in the monitoring stage.”

Islanders are encouraged to take the following steps when preparing for hurricanes or other emergencies:

• making a household emergency plan to help everyone know what to do in case of emergency;
• updating your preparedness kits, including extra food, pet supplies, water, masks and hygiene products;
• bringing in or tying down furniture, play equipment, barbeques or anything that can become projectiles in the event of high winds;
• ensuring you have fuel for generators and vehicles, as well as propane for outdoor cooking devices such as barbeques;
• replacing batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide alarms;
• never operate a generator or barbeque anywhere inside a home, including a garage. Best practice is to keep a generator 20 feet from the home and pointing the exhaust away from the home;
• running a generator in heavy rain is not recommended unless the generator has a top cover protecting the electrical system; and
• keep up with the latest information from reliable sources such as following PEI Government, local media, and law enforcement social media channels.

Media contact:
Kip Ready
Department of Justice and Public Safety
kjready@gov.pe.ca