110K lose power as December storm barrels into Nova Scotia

Many people in Nova Scotia woke in the dark on Tuesday morning after strong winds and driving rains lashed the province.

As of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nova Scotia Power’s outage map showed 51,975 customers without electricity in an area ranging from Cape Sable Island to the south all the way to Margaree Harbour in Cape Breton. NSP reporting at the height of the storm about 110,000 customers had lost electricity, and the province saw winds over 80 km/h or more 12 hours which kept crews grounded. Power crews are unable to use their buckets in winds stronger that 80 km/h.

The utility said they had over 750 people working across Nova Scotia to restore power, and restoration times vary from early Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon for some locations.

“Crews have been working to safely restore power since the beginning of the storm through some very challenging winds,” said Matt Drover, NS Power Storm Lead. “We’ve had reports of those high winds uprooting trees, bringing trees and branches into power lines and breaking power poles,” said Drover.

As for the storm, preliminary data showed a wind gust at Halifax Stanfield International Airport at 94 km/h which NSP reported windspeeds of 112km/h in Cape Breton, and a gust of 107 km/h in the Annapolis Valley. Preliminary rainfall amounts in the 40 mm range were recorded at Stanfield International before midnight. 

Tuesday’s forecasts called for the rain to tape off to showers before ending in the early morning hours on Wednesday, with an additional 5-10 mm expected to fall.

School closures due to power interruptions:

HRCE: 

Musquodoboit Rural High

All other schools open

CCRCE:

Amherst Regional High

Central Office (60 Lorne)

Cobequid Consolidated

Cobequid Educational Centre

EB Chandler

Frank H Academy

North Nova Education Centre

Northumberland Regional

River Hebert District

Salt Springs Elementary

Spring Street Elementary

Thorburn Consolidated

Trenton Middle

Upper Stewiacke Elementary

Valley Elementary

Wallace Elementary

SSRCE:

Greenfield Elementary

West Northfield Elementary

TCRCE:

Islands Consolidated

St. Mary’s Bay Academy

Drumlin Heights Consolidated School

AVRCE:

Annapolis West Education Centre

Brooklyn District ElementarySchool

Champlain Elementary School

Clark Rutherford Memorial School

Dr. Arthur Hines School

Port Williams Elementary School

Somerset and District Elementary School

Three Mile Plains District School

West Hants Middle School

Wolfville School

SRCE:

Classes are cancelled at all schools in Richmond County