Strong winds caused power outages, school closures, and transportation troubles Wednesday as a storm system moved through the Maritimes.

The number of power outages climbed steadily throughout the day in New Brunswick, with NB Power reporting 160 outages affecting 15,228 customers as of 3:30 p.m. By 11 p.m., that number had dropped to 6,763. In Nova Scotia, roughly 5,374 Nova Scotian Power customers were off the grid at 3:30 p.m., but more than half of them had power restored by 11 p.m. when 2,437 customers were without power. On Prince Edward Island, power had been restored to most Maritime Electric customers on Prince Edward Island as only 47 customers were without power by the end of Wednesday.

“The majority of the outages that we've seen last night and into today have been trees falling on power lines, contacting power lines as a result of these very strong winds,” said Nova Scotia Power spokeswoman Tiffany Chase. “Those winds are expected to continue throughout the day today and into the early morning hours, so we will continue to respond as needed.”

A number of New Brunswick schools were closed for the day. while others had to dismiss students early due to ongoing power outages.

Some Nova Scotia schools were also forced to close early due to persistent power outages.

The weather also affected transportation across the Maritimes. There were some delays and cancellations at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport due to the high winds and the fact that the airport is down one runway after a cargo jet skidded off a runway last week.

Flights were moving, but not very quickly.

“We're certainly doing our best to manage the operation,” said Halifax Stanfield International Airport spokeswoman Theresa Rath Spicer. “Sometimes, when flights can't get in, obviously they can't get out, so we do see a bit of a trickle-down effect.”

The trickle-down included passenger Gord Darrah, who was trying to get home to Ontario.

“I got here about eight o’clock last night, and I got checked-in and then they said there was a slight delay and it ended-up being cancelled,” Darrah said.

The airport was also running on a generator due to a power outage, but Rath Spicer said the terminal building, airfield, and combined services centre weren't affected by the outage.

The Confederation Bridge was closed to all vehicles for almost two hours Wednesday morning and it closed again Wednesday afternoon.

In Halifax, the MacKay Bridge was closed to heavy and high-sided vehicles, but that didn’t stop a utility trailer from trying to cross the span. The trailer flipped onto its side on the bridge, which forced the bridge down to one lane in each direction, resulting in a traffic backlog. The trailer was eventually towed from the scene.

The Canso Causeway was closed to high-sided vehicles late Wednesday afternoon.

The windy weather also had an impact on marine transportation. Northumberland Ferries cancelled all crossings between Caribou, N.S. and Wood Islands, P.E.I. for the day, while Marine Atlantic cancelled all crossings between North Sydney, N.S. and Port aux Basques, N.L.

That has forced many passengers to stay in hotels.

“They're not too happy,” said Brittney Tobin, a hotel manager in North Sydney. “People have work to go to, people to see. They want to get on the boat, but it's not going anywhere, so they're not happy.”

Roads were slick across Prince Edward Island Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, prompting the RCMP to issue warnings on Twitter, urging motorists to drive for the conditions or stay off the roads. The Mounties said they had responded to 35 weather-related calls across Prince Edward Island since 5 p.m. Tuesday.

With files from Bruce Frisko and Kyle Moore.