Power outages drag on after powerful windstorm sweeps through the Maritimes

HALIFAX – Tens of thousands of residents across the Maritimes woke up Tuesday without electricity as utility crews scrambled to repair downed power lines after a powerful windstorm roared over the region on Monday.

More than 23,000 Nova Scotia Power customers were still without electricity as of 10 a.m. – and another 17,000 homes and businesses were still in the dark in New Brunswick. Meanwhile, more than 1,100 Maritime Electric customers were without power on Prince Edward Island.

On Monday afternoon, a gust of 120 kilometres per hour was recorded at the Eskasoni First Nation in Cape Breton, and Canadian Forces Base Greenwood in western Nova Scotia reported a gust of 102 km/h.

“We’re seeing more extreme weather, more often,” Nova Scotia Power said in a statement, adding that the average number of hours of wind gusts over 80 km/h during the last five years is 54 per cent higher when compared with the previous five years.

At the height of the storm, more than 100,000 Nova Scotia Power customers were without electricity.

“Crews continue to work to restore power to customers affected by the significant winds that swept across the province yesterday and overnight,” Nova Scotia Power spokeswoman Jacqueline Foster said in a statement.

“As work continues on the ground, a helicopter will also be used today to inspect transmission lines to help identify damage.”

In New Brunswick, the strongest winds were reported in Saint John, where a gust at the airport reached 104 km/h, and in Charlottetown a peak gust was recorded at 81 km/h.

As the sprawling low-pressure system pulled tropical air into the region, temperatures reached new highs.

In the Cheticamp area in Cape Breton, the thermometer hit 18.5 C on Monday, beating the record set in 1966, and it reached 18 C in Greenwood, N.S., where the previous record of 17.8 C was set in 1950.

Other record high temperatures in Nova Scotia were reported in Tracadie, Ingonish, Kentville, Parrsboro, Port Hawkesbury, Debert, Kejimkujik National Park and Halifax Stanfield International Airport, where the temperature reached 16.1 C.

Feature image by iStock.com/shironagasukujira