Nova Scotia Power tackling damage caused by Monday's strong winds
As many as 55,000 customers were without power at storm's peak
Thousands of Nova Scotia households were without power on Tuesday as the province contended with heavy winds into Monday evening.
Around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, more than 11,000 Nova Scotia Power customers were without power. On Monday, that number got up to 55,000 homes and businesses, as strong winds and heavy rains battered the province.
The outages started along the coast of the Bay of Fundy and spread across the mainland, with a handful in Cape Breton, according to the utility's outage map. By Tuesday afternoon, the largest outage was in and around the New Germany area, with more than 2,000 customers offline.
"Southerly winds are howling, pumping in mild temperatures, ranging from lower to upper teens. It's as warm as 18 degrees in Greenwood in the Annapolis Valley," CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said in an update on Monday afternoon.
Environment Canada issued wind warnings across Nova Scotia earlier Monday.
The weather agency predicted southerly winds with maximum gusts of 80 km/h to 100 km/h from Monday afternoon until evening on the mainland.
Environment Canada warned of potential damage to buildings, as well as power outages.
"As the rain tapers off from west to east throughout this evening, we'll see the winds ease dramatically and shift to westerly," he said.
He said cooler air is expected overnight into Tuesday.
"With lots of standing water from the rain and melted snow, watch for icy conditions on Tuesday morning," Snoddon said.
Travel disrupted
Nova Scotia Power issued a news release Sunday afternoon to say it would activate its emergency operations centre on Monday.
The utility said it would position crews across the province so they could respond as soon as it was safe to do so.
Halifax Transit suspended ferry service shortly before 5 p.m. Monday and said it would bus passengers between the Halifax and Dartmouth terminals.
Several flights at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport were also delayed or cancelled Monday afternoon, though by travel though the airport was back to normal levels Tuesday.
Marine Atlantic cancelled all ferry crossings between Port aux Basques, N.L., and North Sydney scheduled for Monday.
Bay Ferries Limited said it has revised one sailing and cancelled two others.
The 4 p.m. Digby sailing on Monday was cancelled as was the Tuesday Saint John sailing at 8 a.m.
Container blew into the Bedford Basin
The high winds also pushed over a stack of shipping containers at Fairview Cove, sending one into the water.
Around 2:30 p.m. on Monday, André Comeau was working from home in his Fairview condo when he heard a "loud crash."
"We hear a lot of banging going around with the container terminal, so I thought it was just sort of regular work that was going on. But it did sound a little loud, so that's why I looked up," Comeau said.
Comeau said from his window he could see that the top couple of containers from a stack on the terminal deck had fallen. One lay on crushed fencing while another was floating away into the Bedford Basin.
A tugboat parked at the end of the terminal took off after the container and slowly brought it back, Comeau said.
Jonathan Chia, spokesperson for terminal operator PSA Halifax, said in an email that the container was blown off the dock due to the high winds, and has since been retrieved.
Chia said there are preventive safety measures in place to mitigate the risks of strong winds blowing stacks of empty containers.
"All safety incidents are reviewed post-event and any new measures arising from the review will be implemented to prevent future occurrence," Chia said.
With files from Haley Ryan and Ryan Snoddon
