High winds leave thousands without power in the Maritimes

A windstorm blew through Halifax causing power outages and damage. (Emma Convey, CTV News)

Power crews across the Maritimes are busy trying to restore power Saturday.

As of 5:00 p.m., there were 32,542 customers without power in Nova Scotia and 64 on Prince Edward Island.

There where 29,833 customers without power at that time in New Brunswick.

NB Power spokesperson Elizabeth Fraser said crews worked through Friday night to restore emergency outages where they were able to do so safely.

“Today we will have damage assessors, safety specialists, line crews, and arborists working together to safely restore outages. We are relocating additional crews to the areas of greatest impact,” said Fraser. “This will be a multi-day event before all customers are restored.”

Fraser is urging New Brunswickers to keep a safe distance of at least 10 metres from downed infrastructure such as lines, transformers and trees and not to approach any downed lines.

“Please be respectful to all of our field crews as they work hard to safely and efficiently restore power to impacted customers,” said Fraser.

Moncton Fire Department Acting Platoon Chief Scott Brown said the high winds made for a busy day for firefighters.

“We’ve had to call in an extra truck and men due to the high volume of power lines down,” said Brown. “We’ve had trees falling on high tension lines causing fires while there’s still power in the line. Eventually the power line will burn through the tree or the breaker will be thrown at the transformer cutting the power. We’ve had power lines lying across the road in certain areas.”

Brown said if a household does lose power he would urge anyone who is using a generator to make sure it’s being run outside in a well-ventilated area.

“Do not run it indoors at all. That includes inside of your attached garage,” said Brown.

Travel

The Confederation Bridge has reopened since a closure on Saturday morning.

High winds cancelled or delayed some flights out of Halifax Stanfield International Airport.

Marine Atlantic says all ferry sailings from North Sydney to Newfoundland have been cancelled for the day.

Bay Ferries cancelled the 9 a.m. Saint John, N.B. departure.

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.