Fierce storm causes storm surges, extensive power outages in Atlantic Canada

HALIFAX — Tens of thousands of people were waking up in the dark this morning after a ferocious storm blasted through Atlantic Canada, flooding coastal roads, battering sailboats and downing trees with hurricane-force winds.

Nova Scotia Power says 125,000 customers were without electricity in an area that stretched from one end of the province to the other after winds gusting to 140 kilometres an hour whipped through the region late Thursday and into Friday.

In New Brunswick, more than 130 outages were affecting 11,000 customers throughout the province that was also hit with heavy snowfall, while P.E.I. was also largely in the dark.

Nova Scotia saw winds whip up seas that spilled onto roadways from Eastern Passage near Halifax to Lunenburg County, leaving rocks and debris strewn along streets and boardwalks.

A stretch of boardwalk at the Historic Properties on Halifax’s waterfront was also flooding around a large Canada 150 sign, while the surge overran a short causeway connecting the Armdale Yacht Club to the peninsula.

Pictures on Twitter showed scaffolding from the historic Lunenburg Academy laying in a heap on the ground as winds roared around it, while waves nearby pounded shorelines along the Atlantic coast.

The storm also closed schools for a second straight day in parts of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I., and was hampering air travel and ferry service in several areas.

The Canadian Press