Environment Canada has issued a series of weather warnings for the Atlantic provinces this weekend, as stormy weather returns to eastern Canada.

Parts of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia welcomed the first full day of spring with snowfall warnings on Saturday morning, as Environment Canada predicted up to 20 centimetres would fall in some areas.

The precipitation is expected to cause poor driving conditions, Environment Canada warned. It will also add to the mountains of ice and snow that has accumulated this season.

In Halifax, the city is preparing for potential flooding after Environment Canada issued a rainfall warning for Halifax Metro and Halifax County West on Saturday. Up to 40 millimetres of water is expected to fall overnight and into Sunday.

"The frozen ground has a reduced ability to absorb this rainfall," the Environment Canada warning said. "Localized flooding in low-lying areas is possible. Heavy downpours can cause flash floods and water pooling on roads."

As crews work to clear out snow mounds accumulated from last Wednesday’s storm, a 24-hour restriction on all street parking remained in effect in Halifax on Saturday.

Some roads had to be shut down in order to clear more streets.

Meanwhile, much of Newfoundland was issued a warning for "strong winds that may cause damage," this weekend.

Environment Canada said Gros Morne could expect gusts up to 140 kilometres per hour Sunday morning, and advised residents to anchor down any objects that could end up getting picked up by the gales.

"High winds may cause numerous downed trees," the warning said. "And damage may occur from blowing debris."

In many parts of the Maritimes, winter-weary residents are still digging out from last week's storm.

"My sidewalk disappeared in January, so I hope we'll have it for June," said Lisa Martin of Moncton.

Seniors home snowed in

Officials with the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services issued an apology Saturday, after it took more than 24 hours to clear the exits at a seniors' home in New Glasgow following last Wednesday’s storm.

By Thursday afternoon, there still wasn’t any entrance or exit shovelled out to the parking lot or road.

The main walkway was also covered with a metre of snow, but it was cleared out on Friday.

In a statement, a community services official apologized, and said the safety of the residents is a high priority. While the standard for snow removal is 24 hours, the official called it an “exceptional” storm.

Local MLA Pat Dunn said he wants to see a contingency plan in place to address storm response.

“The resources don’t appear to be there,” Dunn told CTV Atlantic. “They do what they can possibly do as quickly as time permits, but it’s just not humanly possible.”

Residents are hoping the next storm doesn’t bring the same delay.

“It’s kind of scary to seniors,” said Linda Robichaud. “We’re helpless if we need the firetruck, if there happened to be a fire.”

With a report by CTV Atlantic’s Dan MacIntosh