Weather alerts in effect for New Brunswick as post-tropical storm Philippe moves closer

Active weather alerts are in effect and blanketing most of the Maritimes, and will likely remain into Sunday morning as post-tropical storm Philippe makes its way towards the western parts of the Maritimes.

While Saturday mostly brought wind to the hub city, some preparations were seen at Atlantic Outdoor.

“We’re seeing a lot of people getting ready, I guess preparation with chains for their chainsaws, oil, gas, fuel, sparkplugs, you know, making sure that their equipment I guess is working properly so they’re ready,” said owner Michael Flanagan.

He says there was also an item that was quite popular ahead of Philippe this year.

“Leaf blowers, because people are anticipating lots of leaves in the yard, baggers for lawn mowers, those types of things, but no real panic buying, just people aware of the situation and getting ready for it.”

Looking to stay on top of any incidents, NB Power opened its Emergency Operations Centre on Saturday.

A spokesperson for the company says there are more than 500 resources ready to respond to outages across the province with the ability to call in even more if needed.

“We continue to refine our strategy for this weather system based on the latest forecasts,” said Clayton Beaton, corporate communications for NB Power.

He says that the resources consist of NB Power crews and additional contractor crews.

“Crews have been checking equipment, trucks, and ensuring our employees and contractors are fully prepared to respond safely and efficiently,” said Beaton.

Vincent Corey from Salisbury, N.B., was shopping at Giant Tiger on Saturday morning. While he says he isn’t worried, his wife has some plans in place.

“The wife was a little worried with the storm. She wanted to go get a few knick-knacks so that’s why we’re here,” he said.

As for what was on the list he said, “hot dogs and hamburgers we can cook on the BBQ, boil some water on the BBQ.”

In general, experts recommend that people have a storm preparation kit on hand that will last at least 72 hours filled with items such as non-perishable food, water, flashlights and batteries.

However, with storm Lee still top of mind for many New Brunswickers, Philippe wasn’t bringing too much concern to Moncton residents on Saturday.

“Food wise we’re all set,” said Moncton resident, Maurice Mazellora.

“We could probably go a month or more with the food we have in our freezer and everything else, so there’s no concern whatsoever.”

He also mentioned that his patio furniture was still tucked away in his garage from when he prepared for Lee a few weeks ago.

Similar to Mazellora, Sue Campbelll also wasn’t worried about what weather might come later this weekend.

“I pretty much have everything that I need,” she said.

“I just picked up a couple of things today, but I wasn’t really even thinking about the storm.”

As of Saturday evening, Moncton remains in a special weather statement with strong winds expected from Sunday morning into Sunday afternoon.

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