'It's country life': Couple, aged 92 and 89, hunker down for storm

LeandreSavoie, 92, cut plenty of firewood, and his wife, Annie, 89, kept the wood-fired range stoked intheir northern New Brunswick home in preparation for Thursday's storm.

They stocked up on food and water and hunkered down for the "weather bomb" that closed highways and knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses across the province.

"It's country life," said their 50-year-old son, StphaneSavoie, who lives with them in Allainville, a small community near the village of Neguac, north of Miramichi,joking "it's a debate who's looking after who."

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Stphane made the 45-minute drive home from his office inBathurstin his white Honda Civic in near whiteout conditions and gotup at 4 a.m. Friday tosnowblowbefore the estimated seven inches (about 17 centimetres) of snow that fell got too heavy fromthe rain or froze.

"I guess we're kind of hardy and tough. We take it in our stride."

TheSavoiessurvived six days without electricity during last year's major ice storm, usinggenerators to keep their fridge, freezer and lights running, but they didn't lose power Thursday.

Others weren't as lucky. As of about 2 p.m. Friday, NB Power crews were still working to restore power to more than 4,000 customers on the Acadian Peninsula, inChaleur and the Northumberland-Miramichiarea.

Mother Nature isn't co-operating. Bathurst and the Chaleurregion, Campbellton and Restigouche County and Edmundston and Madawaska County all remain under winter storm warnings, according to Environment Canada.

"Hazardous winter conditions are expected," the advisories state.

Conditions are "gradually improving," but snow and blowing snow are expected to persist into the early evening inareas bordering Quebec, the weather agency advises.

CBCmeteorologist Jay Scotlandsaid strong winds are forecast tocontinue to batterthe region with gusts of 70 km/hto 100 km/h.

Samantha Charest of Lorne was staying put for the day.

She works at the CampbelltonNursing Home, about an hour's drive away, and Highway 11 was closed Friday morning.

Her vehicle was also buried in snow.

"This is the worst storm I have seen," Charestsaid.

Doug Trevors of Miramichisaid the snow picked up there again Friday morning, and the temperature was dropping.

"Sure to make driving tricky," he posted on Twitter.

"Miramichi Police Force is asking motorists to stay home and stay off the streets if possible to give crews a chance to clear the snow," he tweeted.

"Spring is only about 75 days away."