Almost all NB Power customers back on-line
Crews spent the day battling ice, lightning, heavy rain and wind
NB Power crews managed to get almost every one of more than 15,000 customers back on the grid by early Thursday evening after a night and day of ice, lightning, freezing rain, downpours and wind.
By 8.00 p.m., the number of homes and businesses without electricity had been reduced to just 93.
- CBC Storm Centre: The latest weather-related cancellations
- On mobile? Follow the live blog with the latest weather news
- Winter storm in Eastern Canada leaves hundreds of thousands without power
Meghan Gerrish, a spokesperson for NB Power, said the utility doubled its regular number of field staff leading up to this storm.
The utility indicated the outages were caused primarily by ice buildup on power lines and equipment.
Crews de-iced many lines and tree branches, said NB Power.
Travel warnings issued
The freezing rain prompted travel warnings on the province's highways.
In Miramichi, the fire department tweeted a warning that roads were "atrocious," with ice ruts and deep standing water.
Peter Fenety, a spokesperson for the Maritime Road Development Corp., said the Moncton-to-Fredericton highway was slushy with ice patches and some pooling water.
The sailing of the Digby ferry departing Digby at 4 p.m. Thursday was cancelled, along with the scheduled return trip from Saint John on Friday morning.
Canada Post suspended mail delivery in the Edmundston and Doaktown areas for the day.
CBC meteorologist Peter Coade says after Thursday's "very windy, very wet and very mild day," skies will clear late on Friday and temperatures will become much colder.
"A ridge of high pressure will be moving across the Maritimes on Saturday making for a mostly sunny but rather chilly day and this will be followed by a disturbance moving in from the northwest with some flurries or light snow," Coade said.
New Brunswick forecast
Northern New Brunswick
Thursday night: It will be cloudy with a few showers, changing to flurries, northwest winds gusting to 40 km/h and a low temperature of –4 C.
Friday: It will be cloudy and windy with a chance of flurries and a high of 0 C.
Fredericton and area
Thursday night; Showers will turn to flurries overnight with 5 mm of rain expected and winds from the west gusting to 40 km/h. The low temperature will reach –2 C.
Friday: It will be windy and cloudy with a few morning flurries and a high near 0 C.
Southern New Brunswick
Thursday night: It will be windy with rain ending, winds from the southwest gusting to 60 km/h and a low of –2 C.
Friday: It will be windy with a few showers of flurries in the morning, clearing to a mix of sun and cloud by afternoon. Winds will be from the west gusting to 50 km/h with a high of 0 C.