Thousands still without power as rainfall warnings continue in Nova Scotia
CBC News | Posted: December 19, 2023 1:33 PM | Last Updated: December 19, 2023
Nova Scotia Power says it's working to restore electricity to affected customers
Nova Scotia is continuing to deal with the effects of a slow-burning storm that began with heavy wind and rain on Monday.
According to Nova Scotia Power's outage map, more than 8,000 customers were still without power as of 10 p.m. Tuesday. At the peak of the outages, there were more than 70,000 customers without power.
The outages are spread across the province, with significant concentrations in the Annapolis Valley and on the South Shore, as well as in New Glasgow, Amherst and Antigonish.
Rainfall warnings are in place for Antigonish County, Guysborough County, Halifax County - east of Porters Lake, Inverness County South of Mabou, Pictou County, Richmond County, Sydney metro and Cape Breton County and Victoria County.
Ferry travel was also affected by the weather, with Marine Atlantic cancelling all Newfoundland ferry crossings for Tuesday, and delayed starts elsewhere.
A number of schools in the province were also closed on Tuesday due to power outages.
Crews working to restore power
In an interview with Information Morning Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Power's storm lead Matt Drover said crews were continuing to monitor the situation and will work to restore power throughout the day.
"It's been a slow-moving storm … which has had a pretty big impact on trees falling into our power lines," he said.
As winds continue to die down, Drover said they'll be able to better assess the damage and how long it will take to restore power across the province.
"It's never a good time of the year to lose power but definitely this time of year, being a week before the holidays, we know how impactful that is," said Drover.
"And rest assured we're out there working around the clock to get your power back on."