Maritimes weather blast leaves tens of thousands without power, closes schools, cancels flights

The first major winter storm in the Maritimes has lefttens of thousands of people in the dark, led to school and other cancellationsand made roads treacherous.

And more snow is on the way.

NB Power reportedthat more than 11,000customers down from a peak of more than 45,000 were without electricity at 9:10p.m. AT, as heavy snow continuedto fall throughout muchof New Brunswick.

Some customers may remain offline until Thursday and the provincial utility is advising everyonevia Twitter to "prepare for potential impacts of another major snowstorm" expected to hit Wednesday night

In Prince Edward Island, Maritime Electric reported fluctuations in outages, with2,400 customers without power as of 9 p.m. AT, down from a high of 11,000. Most of the outages are in eastern P.E.I., where many of the affected customers have not had power since a storm on Sunday.

Crews are continuing to work into the night to restore power.

In Nova Scotia, roughly 1,400 customerswere without power as the night wore on, downfrom a high of 19,000. Someschools in the provincewere closed.

• CBCStorm Centre: Track the latest closures and cancellations

The bulk of the outagesin New Brunswick arein the greater Fredericton, Monctonand Sussex areas.

"We anticipate 80% of customers affected restored tonight," the utility posted on Twitter. "Some customers, especially those in rural areas or who are among small numbers connected to an outage, should be prepared to be without power until tomorrow."

A full complement of crews, including 108 line crews and 21 tree-trimming crews, are working to restore power.

An additional 20 or more crews from contractors and other utilities will join them Wednesday night, with more expected on Thursday.

"Crews in the hardest hit areas will work through the night restoring power," the tweet said. "Your patience is appreciated."

The majority of the outages are due to heavy wet snow pushing tree branchesonto lines, spokeswoman Deb Nobessaid. "There is no significant damage to infrastructure at this time," she said.

In Fredericton, the city is providing warming/charging stationsat the Grant Harvey Centre and Willie O'Ree Place until midnight. Both facilities are expected to reopen at 6 a.m., weather permitting.

Atthe peak of the outages, 23,000 customers in Central York and Sunburycounties were waking up in the dark. In the Moncton area, roughly 14,000 homes and businesses were without electricity.

"We will be relocating our crews from around the province to help in the restoration efforts," spokeswomanMarie-AndreeBolduc said early Wednesday morning. "We've had some crews [who were] able to work overnight dealing with some emergencies and larger outages and things like that."

• Schools closed as more snow falls on P.E.I.
• Nova Scotia storm knocks out power to thousands, cancels flights and some classes

In all three provinces, many schools and some offices are affected:

• In New Brunswick, there are closures ofelementary and secondary schoolsinMiramichi,Moncton, Sussex and Fredericton. As well, the University ofMonctonwill be closed until 1 p.m., anda decision will be made at 10:30 a.m. about the rest of the day.NBCCCampuses in Fredericton, Saint John, andWoodstockhave had classes delayed by an hour, whileNBCCMonctonclasseswill bedelayed until 10:30 a.m.
• In Nova Scotia, all schools in the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board cancelled classes on Wednesday. Some campuses ofNSCCeither cancelled or delayedclasses.
• Schools have been closed on Prince Edward Island. As well, provincial civil service offices, UPEIand Holland College have delayed opening.

Watchthe slippery roads

Mike Walker, manager of roads and streets for the City of Fredericton, said some power lines are across roads and the streets are slippery.

He said the main roads have been the focus, but cleanup will take some time.

"Ourcleanup operations are going to extend well into the middle of today for our roads and streets and for our sidewalks. We'll be all day getting through everything," said Walker.

Don Morehouse,director of public works in Moncton, N.B., saidthe snow became heavy at about3 a.m. Snowplows are in use, but streets are still snow packed and slippery.

"We need three or four hours to make one pass and the heavier snow does slow down the equipment because it's harder for the to push," Morehouse said. "But overall, the cleanup is underway."

A spokesperson for the Maritime Road Development Corp. said crews have been trying to clear the highway between Moncton and Fredericton throughout the night. Visibility is poor in areas and there is still snow on the highway.

"Be aware of some slushy and icy patches as well throughout that section. Visibility has been reported as being from fair to poor throughout the highway as well," Murphy said.

"If you have to be out this morning, give yourself some extra time, drive slowly. But if you're able to wait, that might be the best solution."

More snow on the way

Jean-Marc Couturier, a meteorologist with Environment Canada's Atlantic Storm Prediction Centre, said more snow is on the way this week.

"We're certainly not done this week as far as storms go. There's another disturbance that's going to be winding up and bringing some snow starting tonight," said Couturier.

Couturier said he expects more snow in the northwest of the province.

In the south, warmer air will change the snow to rain by noon.

He said Fredericton would likely receive at least 10 cm of snow before the change. The precipitation should end by Thursday evening.

Weather warnings blanket most of New Brunswick with the exception of the Saint John area, St. Stephenand northern Charlotte County and GrandManan,and coastal Charlotte County, as another low pressure moves through Wednesday night and Thursday.

"Along the Fundy coast, rain will be the dominantprecipitation type. It is possible that some southern areas could exceed 15 cm of snow, snow may be mixed with rain for the Acadian Peninsula but there is also the potential for amounts nearing snowfall warning criteria as well."

Environment Canada says the heaviest areas of snow over central parts of New Brunswickcould reach 25 cm by Thursday evening,

"Prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions. Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow."