Lee moves across southeastern New Brunswick overnight

While the effects of post-tropical storm Lee were felt inNew Brunswick in the early hours of Saturday, the eye of the storm didn't reach the province until later Saturday night

Lee then began moving across southeastern New Brunswick, and heavy rain was continuingin places, according to the CanadianHurricane Centre.

Lee made landfall in Nova Scotia around 4 p.m. at Long Island, and the eye was just south-southwest of Saint John at 9p.m.

CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said the storm would keepmoving northward, but winds would begin to ease in New Brunswick overnight.

Wind warnings were stillin effect during the evening,with gusts of 90 to 100 kilometres possible.

In New Brunswick, rain warnings were also still in effect.

During the day, bands ofheavyrain and winds hit parts of New Brunswick,including the west up to Edmundston and across the north to Bathurst.

Environment Canada said southern New Brunswick could expect between 50 and 120 millimetres of rain from Lee, which transitionedfrom a hurricane to a post-tropical storm early Saturday morning.

"It's really been chaotic," Kyle Leavittof the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization said in late afternoon.

The storm covers avast area, but the effects have differed among the small pockets within the system. Even in the samepocket, the rain has regularly runthe gamut from somewhat heavy to torrential and back again.

About 67,000 N.B. Power customers lost power at times, 38,000 at the peak,as trees fell on lines.

The number of customerswithout power continued to fall through the afternoon, reaching about 23,000 by 7 p.m.as crews work to repair some of the damaged lines.

N.B. Power spokesperson Dominique Couture said restoration can be hampered by road traffic and urged people not to travel unless necessary. She also said more outages were likely during the night.

Although Lee's predicted path has shifted a number of times, the eye of the storm wasexpected to reachNew Brunswick to the east of Saint John in the St. Martins-Fundy Trail area. It was thenexpected to track overland toward the western tip of Prince Edward Island.

Snoddon said this "shift in track changes very little in the overall forecast, which is pretty much on par with what we expected."

He said the heaviest rain will continuein New Brunswick through the night.

WATCH | Scenes from Lee across the province:

Snapshots of Lee throughout New Brunswick

1 year ago

Duration 0:59

Fallen trees, power outages and more, see the effects of post-tropical storm Lee in New Brunswick.

Southwestern regions of New Brunswick, especially along exposed coastal areas got some of the strongest winds, with gusts of 89 to 120 kilometres per hour possible in those parts.

But throughout the morning and afternoon along the Bay of Fundy, the impact thatLeavitt said most worried EMO had not materialized. At high tide in Saint Andrews, for instance, there were no white caps and little sign of devastation.

Mayor Brad Hendersonsaid the worst damage occurred in the morning, when a lot of trees came down, but there was not so much damage along the shoreline.The town was still without power, he said, and the winds, which had subsided since morning, were picking up again.

By mid-afternoon, New Brunswick's Emergency Measures Organization had moved up to "enhancedmonitoring" of Lee because of the strength of the storm.

According to the latest information from the Canadian Hurricane Centre, between 30 and70 mm of rain hadfallen over the southern Maritimes by early evening.

"Most areas of the province could see peak wind speeds today of between 60 to 80 km/h," EMO said.However, wind warnings have been issued for the Fundy coastline, where strong wind gusts of 90 to 120 km/h are expected."

Because of the size of the storm, EMO said "impacts will occur not only near the trackbut up to several hundred kilometres away from it."

In areas at risk, EMO said people should only travel for "essential purposes."

All Fundy Isles ferry services aresuspended as are coastal ferry services to Grand Manan, Deer Island and White Head.

Trees are still in full leaf, meaning a greater chance of widespread power outages. Worst hit so far have been Carleton, Charlotte and Kings counties.

Trees had been uprooted by mid-morning in Saint John,including some in King's Square in the uptown.Trees across the city have fallen, according to a statement from city hall.Drivers were asked to find other routes rather than trying to drive around the trees.

Farther west along the Bay of Fundy, trees have fallen on power lines.

In the Fredericton area,RCMP said Route 102 in Island View is washed out, and traffic is being diverted.

Fredericton policesaid many of the city's traffic lights weren'tworking because ofpower outages. They saidmotorists should treat intersections without working lights as four-way stops.

On Friday, N.B. Power said a team of 700 personnelis prepared to tackle power restoration efforts as soon as it's safe to do so. By the end of the afternoon, fewer than 30,000 customers remained on the outage list.

Government officialsurged people to stay inside and be safe, guidance that also prompted Harvest Music Festival organizers to cancel all shows on Saturday.

Officials asked residents to stay away from the coastline, limit travel to essential purposes, andreport outages to N.B. Power when they happen.