Power restoration nearly complete as extreme cold moves in
Fewer than 300 customers without power after number peaked at 19,000 Friday morning
Power has been restored to all but a few hundred New Brunswickers who lost it Friday in the aftermath of a fierce winter storm, as temperatures drop to extreme lows.
Earlier Friday, 19,529 customers were without power across the province, but the number dropped to 266 customers in the early evening.
The Acadian Peninsula was one of the hardest hit regions where thousands lost power. However, the area had only 84 NB Power customers without electricity, as of 8:30 p.m. The Chaleur region has 127 customers without power.
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Approx. 1300 previously restored customers in Lameque will be experiencing an outage in order for crews to safely repair a damaged switch. This outage will last approximately two hours.
—@NB_PowerExtreme cold
Environment Canada has issued an extreme cold warning for parts of the province Friday night as a cold air mass moves into the region, likely for much of the weekend.
Wind chill will make temperatures feel as cold as –38 C in some parts of the province Friday night.
"At this time it looks like the Fundy coast and most regions adjacent to the Gulf of St Lawrence should not quite reach the warning criteria of minus 35, although it will likely be very close," Environment Canada said in the statement.
The agency is advising people to cover up and keep emergency supplies in their vehicles.
Crews focus on repairs
Fifty-seven NB Power crews and 14 contractor crews throughout the province were responding to the outages. Two crews from Saint John Energy and two crews from Edmundston Energy also helped.
NB Power expected most power outages would be fixed by the end of the day.
"The storm has subsided and road accessibility is improving, our crews have made some great progress with restorations throughout the province," the utility said.
Although no major infrastructure damage has been reported, outages in some areas resulted from power lines touching and branches making contact with wires.
"We remind the public to stay at a safe distance from any infrastructure that may have fallen to the ground and to slow down when driving by crews working on the road," Bolduc said.
Robert Duguay, a spokesperson for the province's Emergency Measures Organization, said warming centres are not available but will be set up if needed.
Residents impacted by outages
Nearly 400 customers lost power in Murray Corner, a community just north of Port Elgin.
Brenda Trafford, who lives in the area, woke up with no electricity. Trafford said her house was cold but a wood stove is keeping her warm.
"The power went out at about 4:15 yesterday afternoon and I was pretty well prepared, I even was able to set up an old radio I found in the basement with eight-year-old batteries and the thing worked," she said.
All in all there was more fear for me than real damage.- Alain Clavette, Memramcook resident
"It was very, very windy there was snow at the beginning but my deck is bare this morning, basically bare but wet."
Alain Clavette, who lives just outside of Memramcook, said he doesn't have power.
"It's been almost scary for a little while, the winds were very very intense, the barbecue got knocked over out there, which was the only item I never thought the wind was going to be able to move," he said.
Clavette said he received a lot of rain and broken branches around his southeastern home.
"All in all there was more fear for me than real damage," he said.
"The wind got intimidating for a while, but there doesn't seem to be much damage around the house."
Meanwhile, wind gusts were so strong in the Moncton area the city's SportsDome experienced a "small rip" at around 6:30 a.m.
On Twitter, the Moncton SportsDome said staff crew were on site Friday morning and decided to bring it down. Repairs are expected soon and the Dome will be re-inflated once the repair is completed.
Road conditions
Earlier Friday, the province's Emergency Measures Organization lifted the no-travel advisories on Highway 1 and Highway 2.
There were still two road closures in the northern part of the province on Highway 180 from St. Quentin to Southeast Upsalquitch River. Part of Highway 108, also known as the Plaster Rock-Renous Highway, is also closed.
Felicia Murphy,a spokesperson for SNC-Lavalin, which maintains the Trans-Canada from Longs Creek to the Quebec Border and the highway from Woodstock to Houlton, said sections of the highway remain snow-covered with poor visibility and icy patches.
Murphy said shortly after 5 p.m. conditions on the highway were varied, but as drivers head north they can encounter drifting snow between Grand Falls and the Quebec border.
Drifts are slowing down snow removal, she said, adding the cleanup won't be completed overnight.
Norman Clouston, the general manager for the MRDC Operations Corp., which manages the highway from the Fredericton area to Moncton, said earlier Friday there was significant snowfall that switched over to rain and are experiencing freezing temperatures.
"You should not go out and head out on the highway … you should delay your trip for a few hours," he said.
New Brunswick forecast
Northern New Brunswick
Tonight: Mostly cloudy with a risk for flurries, cold and still windy with westerly wind gusts to 50 km/h.
Saturday: Variable cloud with scattered flurries and brisk west to northwesterly winds gusting between 30 km/h and 50 km/h.
Fredericton and area
Tonight: Mostly cloudy with possible flurries and westerly wind gusts travelling at 40 km/h.
Saturday: Partly cloudy with a risk of flurries and brisk west to northwesterly winds with wind gusts approaching 50 km/h.
Southern New Brunswick
Tonight: Variable cloud with slight isolated flurries and brisk westerly winds still gusting to 40 km/h.
Tomorrow: Variable cloud and chilly with cold winds still gusting over 40 km/h.
With files from Information Morning Fredericton, Tori Weldon and Colin McPhail