Cancellations begin in the Maritimes ahead of high winds, heavy rain

Cancellations are beginning in the Maritimes Friday afternoon ahead of a stormy night with localized flooding and power outages possible.

Weather alerts

Environment Canada has issued a series of yellow wind and rainfall warnings for all three Maritime provinces.

The weather agency says unseasonably warm air moving up from the south could cause snow to melt and localized flooding overnight and into Saturday.

Wind gusts could reach up to 110 kilometres per hour along the Fundy shore in New Brunswick and parts of the Atlantic coast.

CTV Atlantic meteorologist Kalin Mitchell has details on the timing of the strong winds and rain here.

Power

As of 8:30 p.m., there were 35,723 NB Power customers without electricity in New Brunswick.

There were 46,195 customers without power at that time in Nova Scotia and 71 on Prince Edward Island.

On Thursday, Nova Scotia Power announced it was activating its Emergency Operations Centre at noon Friday.

HRM activating emergency operations centre

The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) warns the heavy rain and strong winds may lead to localized flooding, downed trees and power outages.

The municipality says it will activate its Emergency Coordination Centre at 8 p.m. Friday to support coordination and response efforts.

Colin Waddell, acting director of the municipality’s emergency management, recommends people secure any outdoor furniture or equipment.

“At this time of year, obviously, we have a lot of holiday decorations and that they may be of the inflatable kind and they will need to be tied down as well to stop them becoming a bit of a problem for the neighbourhood,” Waddell said.

The Halifax Public Gardens, including the Holiday Light Show, closed at 4 p.m. The gardens are expected to reopen Saturday morning.

Travel

The Confederation Bridge is warning of wind conditions that may result in traffic restrictions from about 2 p.m. Friday until 10 p.m. Saturday.

Some flights at Halifax Stanfield International Airport are either cancelled or delayed.

Marine Atlantic says the following sailings are cancelled for Friday:

• The 11:15 p.m. from North Sydney, N.S., to Port aux Basques, N.L.
• The 11:30 p.m. from Port aux Basques to North Sydney

The following sailings are also cancelled for Saturday:

• The 11:45 a.m. from North Sydney to Port aux Basques
• The 11:45 a.m. from Port aux Basques to North Sydney
• The 11:15 p.m. from North Sydney to Port aux Basques
• The 11:30 p.m. from Port aux Basques to North Sydney

Bay Ferries has cancelled the following Fundy Rose sailings:

• The 4 p.m. Digby, N.S., departure for Friday
• The 9 a.m. Saint John, N.B. departure for Saturday

The Tancook Ferry in Chester, N.S., will be suspended at 4:30 p.m. The ferry service says the suspension could carry over into Saturday.

The sailing season for the ferry operating between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island was originally planned to end on Saturday. It ended three days early due to the weather.

School closures

The South Shore Regional Centre for Education in Nova Scotia closed Big Tancook Elementary School early Friday morning due to the expected high winds.

The Strait Regional Centre for Education said there would be an early dismissal at Cape Breton Highlands Education Centre/Academy due to high winds as well, with students dismissing at 1:15 p.m.

In New Brunswick, Petitcodiac Regional School closed at 1 p.m. due to a power outage.

-With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Vanessa Wright