Blizzard-like conditions batter Cape Breton and knock out power to thousands

Relentless winds continued to batter much of Cape Breton on Friday.

Many residents in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality spent the night in the dark and were still waiting for the power to come back on Friday morning.

“Last night around 10 p.m. I woke up and noticed my power was gone. I was not surprised, but disappointed,” said Janet Dermody, a Sydney, N.S. resident.

Around 24 hours earlier, several streets in Sydney were closed due to flooding, but residents were left dealing with blizzard-like conditions and much colder temperatures on Friday.

“I got a couple of layers on. It's better to stay warm than to get chilly and layer up,” said Dermody.

Nova Scotia Power says the two weather systems affected the province, leaving 30,000 customers without electricity.

The wind was gusting to nearly 100 kilometres an hour for almost 24 hours, which meant crews had to wait to safely restore power.

“Very significant winds, so that definitely creates some safety challenges for our crews to get their buckets up in the air to make any repairs of trees that have fallen onto our lines,” said Matt Drover, Nova Scotia Power storm lead.

Drover says additional crews moved into Cape Breton Friday morning and more were on the way. He says electricity should be restored for most on the island by Friday evening.

“We have over 200 people on the ground right now in Cape Breton and more are coming this way as well, as soon as they wrap up on the mainland, they're coming across the causeway,” said Dermody.

The wind also wreaked havoc on other infrastructure, ripping the roof off of this building on George Street in Sydney.

Most nearby businesses remained closed for the day, but nobody was hurt.

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