Nova Scotians under wind, rainfall warnings as another storm hits province

Another storm has all of Nova Scotia under wind warnings and a few rainfall warnings Monday with winds expected to gust between 70 and 100 km/h this evening.

CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said rainfall will be heaviest along the Atlantic coastline, where 20-40 millimetres is expected. Higher local totals are possible, especially for the Eastern Shore.

The Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education, the South Shore Regional Centre for Education, the Tri-County Regional Centre for Educatio, École Rose-des-Vents and the South Shore Waldorf School closed three hours early on Monday, dismissing at 12 p.m.

Monday was the first day back for in-class learning for public school students after an extended Christmas break and a week of online learning due to COVID-19 precautions.

Snoddon said winds will ramp up this afternoon and evening with widespread gusts in the 70-100 km/h range, and will be strongest along the coasts.

Winds will ease later this evening and overnight as they shift to southwest, then northwest into Tuesday, ushering in colder temperatures.

There were about 7,200 customers without power Monday around 9:45 p.m. AT with the majority of outages in Stellarton, Port Hawkesbury and Bridgewater.

Lia MacDonald, Nova Scotia Power's vice-president of transmission distribution and delivery, said more than 500 crew members are positioned in areas where outages are expected.

The crews are tackling outages stemming from this latest storm, as well as ones caused by the nor'easter that slowly swept across the province beginning last Friday.

"It has been a tough several days … we know it's been tough on our customers and our team. People are tired," said MacDonald. "But we remain prepared to keep up."

For the customers who lost power due to the weekend storm, MacDonald said their electricity should be restored Monday night, provided it's not kept offline due to the current weather.

Wind warnings are now in effect for most of the province. 

Les Suêtes winds are forecast for the northern part of Inverness County on Monday with gusts expected up to 150 km/h.

Two Bay Ferry crossings have been cancelled due to the forecast. 

The ferry departing from Digby, N.S., on Monday at 4 p.m. was cancelled, as well as the ferry leaving Saint John, N.B., on Tuesday at 9 a.m.

Marine Atlantic has also changed the times of multiple ferry crossings to and from North Sydney. 

Rainfall warnings for Cape Breton, eastern Mainland

Meanwhile, all Cape Breton counties, as well as Guysborough County, are under rainfall warnings Monday with 25-40 millimetres expected to begin later in the day and continue into Tuesday. 

With the ground still frozen, there's a higher likelihood of flooding.

Officials recommend clearing any ice and debris from catch basins and drainage areas near your house to prevent flooding.