East Coast mops up after getting hit with ‘weather bomb’
HALIFAX (CP) — Work crews were fanning out across parts of Atlantic Canada on Friday after a fierce winter storm blasted the region with hurricane-force winds that flooded coastal roads, knocked out power and lashed waterfronts with surging seas.
Tens of thousands of people in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. woke up in the dark due to power outages linked to winds that gusted up to 170 kilometres an hour at their highest in Grand Etang, N.S., as part of a system being dubbed a “weather bomb” on social media sites.
By 11 a.m. local time, Nova Scotia Power was reporting 2,000 outages affecting almost 83,000 customers, while NB Power was dealing with 140 outages that affected 16,000 customers. Both utilities had dispatched large crews throughout the area to continue the restoration effort as winds gusted to 80 km/h.
Dominic Fewer of province’s Emergency Management Office said it was still too early to accurately assess the extent of the damage throughout Nova Scotia, but some roadways were washed out and others littered with debris due to the surge and heavy rains.
“There are some washouts and water on the roads – the damage is there, but we’re not really sure of the extent yet,” he said, adding that some roads around the popular Lawrencetown Beach were closed or detoured. “There could be some debris on the roads, but also there is also the wind impact and there could be some water in low-lying areas.”
The storm surge was also felt further down the coast in Shelburne, where Mayor Karen Mattatall said one of the main roads along the waterfront was submerged Thursday night as the powerful system was at its peak. She said the water on Dock Street had receded early Friday, but appeared to have cut away a chunk of sidewalk and left an assortment of flotsam including fishing gear and refuse.