P.E.I. hit by strong winds, heavy snow and zero visibility

Across P.E.I. on Monday the winds had power — and many people had no power at all.

"The top wind gusts have been up around 90 kilometres an hour, so there's been a lot of blowing snow and drifting snow," said Johanna Wagstaffe of the CBC Weather Centre.

"They've seen the snow now for about 24 hours. And for that same time period visibility has basically been zero in most places," Wagstaffe added.

Maritime Electric spent most of the day restoring power to some 15,000 customers. Some of the affected areas included parts of Charlottetown, Milton, Brackley, Pownal, Tea Hill, Crossroads and Tignish.

But as the day went on, work crews were able to make "amazing" progress, Kim Griffin, a Maritime Electric spokeswoman, told CBC News.

By 9 p.m. AT, about 350 customers remained without power, mainly in Scotchfort, Victoria Cross and Georgetown.

Confederation Bridge open only to cars, vans

The Confederation Bridge, which connects the Island to New Brunswick, was closed for several hours to all traffic because of high winds, but was eventually reopened for cars and vans only. Restrictions remain in place barring vehicles such as buses, trucks and trailers.

Flights in and out of Charlottetown were cancelled during the day. But one plane from Montreal landed at the airport in the afternoon and a second one was expected to arrive after midnight.

By late in the day, snowfall and wind warnings were lifted, although the province remained under a storm surge warning.

Meanwhile, residents were starting to dig out from the latest wallop of winter.

"They have seen at least 20 centimetres of snow," said Wagstaffe, "and it's been very cold."

Temperatures on Monday hovered around –8 C, "but with the windchill it was feeling more like –17," Wagstaffe said.

As the clean up continued, the Island was bracing for the next storm. It's expected to hit late on Wednesday into Thursday, bringing with it a mix of snow and rain.