Thousands still without power as rainfall, wind warnings continue in Nova Scotia

CBC
·2 min read
People watch as waves crash near Point Pleasant Park in Halifax on Monday. Heavy rain and winds gusting over 100 km/h are still in the forecast for parts of Cape Breton on Tuesday. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press - image credit)
People watch as waves crash near Point Pleasant Park in Halifax on Monday. Heavy rain and winds gusting over 100 km/h are still in the forecast for parts of Cape Breton on Tuesday. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Nova Scotia is continuing to deal with the effects of a slow-burning storm that began with heavy wind and rain on Monday.

According to Nova Scotia Power's outage map, over 30,000 customers were still without power as of 1:07 p.m. Tuesday.

The outages are spread across the province, with significant concentrations in the Annapolis Valley and on the South Shore, as well as in New Glasgow, Amherst and Antigonish.

Wind warnings were in effect on Cape Breton Island Tuesday, including in Inverness County, and Sydney Metro and Cape Breton County, while rainfall warnings are still in place for Halifax County, east of Porters Lake, and in Antigonish and Guysborough counties.

There are still wind and rainfall warnings in effect for some parts of Nova Scotia.
There are still wind and rainfall warnings in effect for some parts of Nova Scotia.

There are still wind and rainfall warnings in effect for some parts of Nova Scotia. (Tina Simpkin/CBC)

Ferry travel was also affected by the weather, with Marine Atlantic cancelling all Newfoundland ferry crossings for the day, and delayed starts elsewhere.

A number of schools in the province are also closed today due to power outages, including:

  • Musquodoboit Rural High School in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

  • Rankin School of the Narrows in Victoria County.

  • Greenfield Elementary and West Northfield Elementary on the South Shore.

  • Islands Consolidated, St. Mary's Bay Academy and Drumlin Heights Consolidated School, which fall under the Tri-County Regional Centre for Education.

Crews working to restore power

In an interview with Information Morning Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Power's storm lead Matt Drover said crews were continuing to monitor the situation and will work to restore power throughout the day.

"It's been a slow-moving storm … which has had a pretty big impact on trees falling into our power lines," he said.

As winds continue to die down, Drover said they'll be able to better assess the damage and how long it will take to restore power across the province.

"It's never a good time of the year to lose power but definitely this time of year, being a week before the holidays, we know how impactful that is," said Drover.

"And rest assured we're out there working around the clock to get your power back on."

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