HALIFAX – Power and road crews worked across Atlantic Canada on Thursday to restore electricity and clear highways after a powerful winter storm rolled across the region.
Howling winds pulled down power lines across the Maritimes, leaving about 16,000 Nova Scotians in the dark at one point.
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Outages also affected customers in southern New Brunswick and across P.E.I.
In Halifax, the city had more than 200 plows on the road, and officials say the snow clearing is almost complete.
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Flights were grounded all day Wednesday at Halifax’s Stanfield international airport. Most travellers anticipated the storm’s arrival and changed their flights, but some were stranded at the airport overnight.
“I slept on the floor, which was pretty uncomfortable,” said Anthony Mlekuz. “But I had a pillow, which was a little bit of a benefit.”
Flight schedules began to return to normal on Thursday.
Most schools and government offices were closed in the Maritimes on Wednesday, with schools in parts of Nova Scotia and P.E.I. shuttered again today and some offices delaying their openings.
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At the storm’s peak, gusts reached 172 kilometres per hour in parts of Cape Breton, and 185 kilometres per hour at Wreckhouse in western Newfoundland.
The winds were so powerful that a pair of reporters from The Weather Network were blown off camera during a live report Grand Etang, Nova Scotia, as seen in the video below.
In Nova Scotia, Amherst received the most snow at 40 centimetres.
Moncton covered in 41 cm of snow, causing traffic backups
The city of Moncton was one of the hardest hit areas in New Brunswick. Residents said wind was so high it ripped off roof shingles and made driving difficult for public works crews.
“We had white-out conditions through the evening so bad the plow drivers would actually have to come to a stop,” said Mayhew Lloy, a supervisor with Moncton Public Works.
Dozens of cars went off the road. Kyle Ouellette was forced to abandon his car at the height of Wednesday’s storm.
“I was driving back from Bathurst and I made it all the way and then I got cut off at the last second and ended up in the ditch,” he said.
New Brunswick roads continued to be messy into Thursday. Many schools and universities were closed for a second day, or opened late.
The city of Saint John saw 8 cm and Fredericton got 10 cm. The clean-up is expected to continue throughout the rest of the week. But more snow is expected in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island on Sunday.
*with files from Global News reporters Natasha Pace, Shelley Steeves and Brion Robinson
BELOW: Blog replay of information about road conditions, cancellations and weather updates (some information might be outdated)
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