P.E.I. storm recovery may need federal aid

P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz says he may have to ask the federal government for financial help after surveying storm damage on the island province's North Shore on Wednesday.

He said two bridges in particular appear badly damaged — the one at Corran Ban and the bridge at Oyster Bed.

"If need be, we'll look to the federal government. We have six months to really do all the calculations before we decide whether or not we're looking for relief or not," said Ghiz. "But as of now, there are two bridges down and we hope to get to work on them as soon as possible to get them back up and working."

The Beach Point Lighthouse, at the southeastern corner of P.E.I., was knocked off its foundation and driven inland by a storm surge overnight Tuesday.

The damage to the lighthouse was one of the worst reported problems caused by storm surges around the east and north shores of the province.

Bridge reopened

Confederation Bridge, P.E.I.'s connection to the mainland, reopened to high-sided vehicles at about 8 a.m. Wednesday after a 28-hour closure.

Bridge officials warned the crossing could be closed to high-sided vehicles again at any time. Wind conditions are not expected to ease until Christmas morning, as a wind-and-rain storm continued in the Maritimes.

Six bridges were shut down by flooding overnight, but Department of Transportation crews have been getting them reopened.

Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said many harbours took quite a beating over the past few days.

"We would hope that with a lot of the additional investment we've made in small-craft harbours over the last two years, that will pay off," said Shea.

"But of course, these are not normal conditions, so I would expect there would be a whole range of damage that we'll see. But until we get a chance to have our engineers actually inspect the harbours, we won't know the extent of that damage."

Shellfish plant flooded

Burleigh Brothers, a shellfish processing plant in East Bideford on Malpeque, reported it had more than a metre of water in the plant overnight.

The plant has been in operation since 1934 and has never seen anything like it.

At around 6 p.m., water surged over the banks and surrounded the plant. The high tides floated three dories that were on the front lawn to the back.

Co-owner Troy Burleigh says he had to wear hip waders to survey the flood damage.

"We have equipment, certain equipment for grading and that equipment was underwater and of course the motors and stuff like that's not going to work," he said. "And actually the filing cabinets we had to take out the bottom drawers. The water was up to the second row."

Burleigh says he has insurance, but because the deductible is so high, he likely will have to pay for the damage out of pocket.

Most of Burleigh's oysters destined for holiday markets had already been shipped a few weeks ago. He says the 600 or so remaining pounds will likely have to be put back in the water to cleanse themselves.

Flights cancelled

The high winds Tuesday caused a lot of problems for passengers at the Charlottetown airport. All flights after 2:30 p.m. were cancelled.

An airport spokesperson said the high winds were sweeping across the runway, which made landings unsafe.

The airport reopened Wednesday.

"We are expecting the water levels today for the next high tide to be actually lower than they were for last night's one," Linda Libby, the Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist for P.E.I. told CBC News on Wednesday morning. "But we are still anticipating some more flooding."

"The other issue is because we've been in this storm condition for a good 24 hours or more, plus two high tides, there may be some areas that have been weakened by the last two high tides that may be more vulnerable for the next couple of ones," said Libby.

Environment Canada forecast that winds would ease slightly later Wednesday, before picking up again on Thursday.

High winds were causing problems for Maritime Electric. At one point, up to 2,000 customers were without power, mostly individual outages, scattered around the province.

Officials with the Red Cross said they put all 38 of the Island's disaster management volunteers on standby in case they're needed in New Brunswick.

Laura Johnson-Montigny, operations manager for the Canadian Red Cross on P.E.I., said co-operation between the Atlantic provinces is crucial in dealing with these kinds of storms.

Johnson-Montigny said the Red Cross has already sent one Island volunteer to St. George, N.B., to help.