Cleanliness was underway and power was restored to thousands of homes and businesses in Nova Scotia on Sunday after strong winds swept the region after a powerful winter storm.
The storm began on Saturday, bringing a messy mix of heavy snow, snow pellets, frozen rain and rain to the region, with winds estimated at over 100 km/h.
CBC meteorologist Ryan Snowdon said Grand Etang in Cape Breton saw the strongest winds, reaching 147 km/h.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the province, Briar Island was gusting up to 131 km/h.
Some hurricane totals from the Maritimes.
EC’s snowfall has resulted from new snow at airport locations or on the ground.
Many @CoCoRaHSCanada Look here, there are ‘new snow depths’ (noted in comments) before they melt/pack overnight.
Find more overviews here: https://t.co/BmxQHMlxQz#nsstorm #nbstorm pic.twitter .com/OjlbNKnTWM
The wind was so strong that a roof blew off a fish house in Tiverton on Long Island, east of Briar Island, on Saturday afternoon.
Ben Cleveland, the mayor of neighboring Digby, said Sunday: “It lifted the roof of a building right near the dock, so it blocked traffic for a while.”
Cleveland said the roof blocked a portion of Highway 217 – the only route to the mainland for residents of the islands – for only 24 hours.
He said it could have been an inconvenience but people should stay off the roads even after the storm.
“If someone needs to get Digby today, well, they’re definitely not going to do that and I don’t recommend that they do because the roads are not good here,” he said.
“The wind has calmed down a lot, but the roads are still not good, so everyone should stop.”
according to the members of Hwy 217 Road Conditions (Digby Neck & Islands) Facebook GroupThe roof was torn down and removed by mid-afternoon.
power restored
Sean Bourdain, a hurricane lead with Nova Scotia Power, said that as of 3 p.m., about 30,000 customers had lost power since the storm’s onset.
He said one of the major blockages was located in the shearwater and eastern route areas where strong winds broke a conductor at a substation early on Sunday.
Crews restored power to some 2,500 customers in the area.
Some blockages were also seen in Cape Breton on Sunday morning as winds were blowing in the area.
Bourdain said about 400 people worked to restore electricity to customers across the province on Sunday.
“So far, our crews are making good progress, but we are facing some challenging conditions with roads and high winds,” Borden said.
“So our crews had to stand up in some cases where we had winds in excess of 100 km/h, but we hope to have a resumption through those areas this morning.”
According to Nova Scotia Power’s outage map, power was restored to most customers by 3 p.m. Sunday.
NS-NB border reopens
Snowden said northern and western Nova Scotia received the most snow on Saturday, between 30-40 cm, while the eastern side received 15-30 cm and significant rainfall.
As of Sunday, most highways in the province were completely or partially covered with snow.
Snow and freezing rain that blew for poor road conditions on Saturday closed several areas, including the Trans-Canada Highway on the Cobecid Pass and the provincial border with New Brunswick.
Due to slippery conditions, at least two transport trucks in the area fell into a gorge filled with snow, one of which overturned.
The pass and border were closed overnight in both directions, but reopened early Sunday. The New Brunswick Department of Transportation said Sunday that travel is still not recommended.
