Thousands without power as wet weather continues across Nova Scotia - Action News
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Nova Scotia

Thousands without power as wet weather continues across Nova Scotia

Thelargest outagesare in Baddeck, River Bourgeois and Sydney.

According to Nova Scotia Power's website, it could be 11 p.m. before service is restored in some areas

Nova Scotia Power crews work on lines in Seaforth, N.S., on Tuesday morning. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)

More than 6,000 Nova Scotia Power customers were without electricityTuesday nightas a wind and rain storm moved through the province, resulting in scattered outages.

As of 8:24 p.m. local time, thelargest outageswere in Baddeck, River Bourgeois and Sydney, according to Nova Scotia Power'swebsite. At thepeak of outagesTuesday morning, more than 12,000 customers were without power.

The utility said it could be 11 p.m. before service isrestored in some areas.

Victoria County in Cape Breton is under a state of emergency following flooding in the area on Tuesday.

The state of emergency was declared after 9 p.m.

The county said residents are required to shelter in place until further notice.

Townsend Street in Sydney, N.S., flooded on Nov. 23, 2021. (Katie Chartrand-Hodder)

Some schools were closed Tuesday, including all schools in the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education and the Strait Regional Centre for Education. For a full list of school cancellations, please visit CBC's Storm Centre.

Students at H.M. MacDonald Elementary School in Antigonish County had to stay at the school for a couple of hours beyond a planned early dismissal because the road leading to the school was washed out on one sideand flooded on the other.

Wet and windy weather moves across Nova Scotia

3 years ago
Duration 2:49
Wet and windy weather rolled through Nova Scotia on Tuesday. Antigonish County was one of the hardest hit areas with washed out roads and flooding. The flooding led to the evacuation of a trailer park.

"We were just wanting to keep the kids here and safe," said principal Jerome Stewart."We had just a regular school day other than that."

Students were sent home beginning at 2:20 p.m. and all were home by 3 p.m.

The storm was expected to moveacross Cape Breton and P.E.I., then on to Newfoundland.

Road closures

The Nova Scotia governmentannounced several road closuresaround the province Tuesday due to washouts.The province was providingupdates on road closures on the 511 Twitter pageand on a map.

More rain coming

CBC meteorologist Tina Simpkin said another 10 to 20 millimetres of rain wasexpected for mainland Nova Scotia on Tuesday,exceptPictou and Guysborough counties, where 30 to 50 millimetres was expected to fall. Another50 to70 millimetres of rain was in the forecast for Cape Breton.

Gusty winds were also expected out of the southeast up to 80 km/h with the possibility of gusts up to 100 km/h along the coast.

By Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.,Environment Canada had rainfall warnings in effect for all counties north of Pictou and Guysborough.

Wind warnings were also in place for Inverness County - south of Mabou, andRichmond, Victoria and Cape Breton counties, including Sydney.

Simpkin said flurries could mix with rain later in the day as temperatures drop.

Most flights wereon time at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, with a few cancellations. Flights were operating as scheduled at J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport.

The Confederation Bridge was also open to all traffic.

Marine Atlantic, however,cancelled Tuesday's crossings to and from Newfoundland.

Deputy Chief Roy Hollett of Halifax Regional Fire & Emergencysaid no majordamage was reported to the municipality following the storm.

"There were branches down, limbs down, some localized flooding but, as of this morning, when I received the updates from the otherunits, nothing was reported as any significant concern," Hollett said.

Heavy rain will bring the risk of localized flooding Friday and Saturday.
A truck plows through a puddle on Kings Road in Sydney River, N.S., on Tuesday. Cape Breton Island was forecast to get up to 100 mm of rain and high winds. (Tom Ayers/CBC)

With files from Tina Simpkin