The cleanup has begun across the Maritimes after post-tropical storm Dorian slammed into the region Saturday.
Hundreds of thousands of people are without power after high winds snapped branches and toppled trees.
NB Power is reporting more than 55,000 customers without electricity as of 8 a.m. Sunday. That is down from nearly 80,000 customers at one point Saturday evening.
The hardest-hit region is Moncton/Riverview/Dieppe, where more than 25,000 customers were without power Sunday morning.
More than 6,400 customers were off the grid in the Kennebecasis Valley/Fundy region and 2,100 customers in Kings/Queens counties.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as our crews work to restore everyone affected as quickly and safely as possible. Restoration efforts will continue overnight. Visit https://t.co/qyGRAtW91T or call 1 800 663 6272 for outage updates. pic.twitter.com/VmnLmMS2jX
— NB Power (@NB_Power) September 7, 2019
NB Power said more than 500 people are supporting their response efforts to the storm.
Meanwhile, Saint John Energy said around 800 customers were without power in the city Sunday morning.
But the situation is much worse in Nova Scotia, where more than 387,000 customers — nearly 80 per cent of the province — were off the grid Sunday morning.
Nova Scotia Power said the hardest-hit areas include Halifax, Dartmouth, Sackville, and Sydney.
Dorian Damage
Post-tropical storm Dorian left behind a considerable amount of damage in its wake.
There have been countless reports of downed trees throughout the Maritimes, in addition to damaged power poles and lines.
The powerful winds from #Dorian have toppled several trees in King’s Square in uptown #SaintJohn. pic.twitter.com/fxE1Amw5oG
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) September 8, 2019
The winds were strong enough to cause a large crane to collapse onto a building under construction in Halifax, N.S.
Officials also reported storm surge flooding in several Atlantic coastal areas, including Halifax Harbour and along eastern coastlines in New Brunswick.
The province of Nova Scotia requested federal assistance and up to 700 military personnel in Atlantic Canada are preparing to deploy as early as Sunday morning.
Expected tasks will include helping with the restoration of power, clearing main roadways, and evacuating residents in flooded or severely damaged areas.
Dorian By The Numbers
Environment Canada says Dorian performed pretty much as expected when it arrived in the Maritimes.
The centre of the storm made landfall southwest of Halifax, N.S., early Saturday evening.
https://twitter.com/ECCC_CHC/status/1170479388724539392?s=20
Meteorologist Roberta McArthur said wind gusts reached between 100 and 120 kilometres per hour through much of Nova Scotia, with some areas seeing gusts upwards of 140 kilometres per hour.
Several areas of the province picked up nearly 140 millimetres of rain, including Oxford and Lower Sackville.
In New Brunswick, the cities of Saint John and Moncton saw peak wind gusts of 95 kilometres per hour.
Moncton saw the most rain with 121 millimetres, while Saint John received 82 millimetres and Fredericton reported 75 millimetres.
