Thousands of people were left without power in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as an intense winter storm made its way through the region Saturday.
Snow, freezing rain and strong winds made road conditions treacherous and police in both provinces asked people to avoid travel if possible.
In Nova Scotia, a steady stream of snow plows struggled to keep pace with the storm, which dumped a significant amount of snow onto the province in a short period of time.
“Some places in excess of 40 centimetres,” said Jason Mew, the director of the province’s Emergency Management Office’s incident management division.
The snow shifted to freezing rain and ice pellets during the day, before changing to rain later on.
Rainfall warnings were issued for eastern Halifax County and Guysborough County, where about 40 to 60 millimetres of rain was expected to fall, with higher amounts possible in Cape Breton. The rain is expected to continue into the night.
The storm was accompanied by strong winds with maximum gusts of 80 to 110 km/h.
As of 5:45 p.m., there were 129 Nova Scotia Power customers without power, according to the utility’s outage map. Earlier in the day, that number topped 3,000.
Halifax’s overnight winter parking ban will be in effect from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.
Environment Canada is also warning about “high storm surge levels” in areas along the Atlantic coast early Sunday morning, which could lead to flooding.
“People close to the shoreline should stay on the lookout for worsening conditions,” it said.
New Brunswick
In New Brunswick, northern parts of the province received 15 to 25 centimetres of snow while 25 to 40 centimetres fell in the south.
The snow was accompanied by maximum wind gusts of 70 to 100 km/h, with the highest gusts in coastal areas.
As of 5:45 p.m., there were 2,965 NB Power customers without power.
The city of Saint John has declared an overnight parking ban for the north, east and west areas of the city between midnight and 7 a.m. Sunday.
Environment Canada also warned of higher-than-usual seawater levels on the east coast of New Brunswick Saturday evening. “Strong ice pressure may cause ice rafting,” it said.
Conditions are expected to improve on Sunday.
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