Thousands of Maritimers without power day after windy, rainy storm

Thousands of electricity customers across all three Maritime provinces remain without power Tuesday after a strong weather system moved through the region.

Wind gusts reached between 70 and 100 kilometres an hour Monday. The system also brought rain, with the heaviest falling in New Brunswick.

OUTAGES

As of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nova Scotia Power was reporting 278 outages affecting more than 3,500 customers. The bulk of the outages at that time were along northern part of the province.

About 500 people are working to restore downed lines in the province, according to a Tuesday morning news release from the utility.

Nova Scotia Power says it also used a helicopter to inspect transmission lines and identify damage.

Areas near Annapolis Valley and the Halifax Stanfield Airport saw wind gusts approaching 80km/h for as long as six hours, which utility says delayed crews from being able to go up in buckets to restore power.

"It’s important for Nova Scotia Power to continue proactively trimming trees and replacing telephone poles with stronger more resilient ones," said Matt Drover, Nova Scotia Power storm lead, in the release.

“This helps prepare the system for high winds and extreme weather,” he said.

The utility warns high winds could also damage meter masts on customer’s homes.

“If this happens, customers will need to get a certified electrician to make repairs before N.S. Power can safely restore their power,” said Drover.

NB Power was reporting 394 outages affecting more than 4,000 customers at 10:30 p.m., with the largest outage in the Saint John area.

The utility says it relocated crews Tuesday to areas of greatest impacts.

At 6:30 p.m., the utility tweeted that repair efforts were underway. 

Prince Edward Island was reporting outages affecting around 13 Maritime Electric customers as of 10:30 p.m.

SCHOOLS

Several schools in the Maritimes were closed Tuesday due to power outages.

The Anglophone West School District in New Brunswick says Burton Elementary School, Cambridge-Narrows Community School, and Central New Brunswick Academy are closed.

In Nova Scotia, West Northfield Elementary School outside Bridgewater is closed. Cavalier Drive School and Leslie Thomas Junior High in Lower Sackville, N.S., are also closed.

Eight Chignecto-Central Regional Centre for Education (CCRCE) schools were closed:

• FH MacDonald
• Northumberland Regional
• Salt Springs
• Thorburn
• Walter Duggan
• Hants East Rural High
• Shubenacadie
• Upper Stewiacke

All other CCRCE schools delayed opening by two hours.

CSAP says École du Grand-Portage is closed and École acadienne de Truro delayed opening by two hours.

TRAVEL

Marine Atlantic says it has cancelled two crossings Tuesday. The North Sydney to Port aux Basques crossing originally scheduled for 12:30 p.m., and the Port aux Basques to North Sydney crossing originally scheduled for 11:45 a.m., have been cancelled.

Bay Ferries cancelled its 8 a.m. Saint John departure.

The 8:30 a.m. ferry from Wood Islands, P.E.I., and the 10 a.m. ferry crossing from Caribou, N.S., were cancelled. The 11:30 a.m. ferry from Wood Islands and the 1 p.m. from Caribou, NS, were also cancelled.