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HALIFAX – Schools and government offices are closed and flights were cancelled in parts of Atlantic Canada as a powerful spring blizzard pushed through the region.
Significant snow fell in the region, with Nova Scotia and P.E.I. expecting to tally the biggest accumulations — up to 40 to 50 centimetres was predicted for some parts of the two provinces.
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While New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador are expected to get less snow the entire region has been warned about potentially damaging winds in excess of 100 kilometres per hour that could cause widespread whiteout conditions.
READ MORE: Emergency responders not shying away from Halifax blizzard
In western Newfoundland, where strong winds are common, Environment Canada says gusts could peak at 160 km/h and even higher in the notorious Wreckhouse area.
In Nova Scotia, some government services and offices have been closed as a precautionary measure. By early afternoon, Halifax’s Metro Transit had temporarily pulled all of its conventional buses off the roads.
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Schools were closed in parts of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, and airports in Moncton, Fredericton and Halifax were showing several cancellations.
Provincial officials provide storm update
Most Nova Scotians seem to have taken the advice to stay home and off the roads.
Barb Baillie, the executive director of maintenance and operations for the transportation department, said there’s very low traffic across the province.
She said no highways have been shut down yet despite severe whiteout conditions on the roads.
According to Sean Irvine, the director of operations for the province’s Emergency Management Office, storm surges along the South Shore were still a concern.
He said the organization is actively monitoring the situation, but won’t be able to gauge the impact of the storm until late Wednesday evening.
On Wednesday afternoon, Nova Scotia Power reported more than 8,000 customers were without power in various areas of the province. The outage was believed to be caused by high winds and snow.
Irvine says crews are dealing with the outages despite windy conditions.
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