High winds will bring risk of “widespread” power outages

UPDATE: As of 1:45 p.m., the rainfall warning has ended in the metro Halifax area.

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Haligonians are hunkering down for what's expected to be a wet and windy day across Nova Scotia. 

The Halifax area is under wind and rainfall warnings, calling for up to 50 mm of rain and winds gusting to 100 km/h on Thursday. 

“The big concern with these wind warnings will of course be the possibility of widespread power outages,” explained CityNews weather specialist Denise Andreacchi. “We are going to potentially see gusts in that tropical storm-force range here across Nova Scotia. It's late morning into the early afternoon that the winds will be at their strongest.”

Environment Canada's rainfall warning calls for heavy rain at times throughout the day, and the national forecaster says that could create a flooding risk. The rain is expected to taper off late this afternoon. 

Nova Scotia Power tweeted that it is asking for people to report any power outages to the utility, which can be done on its outage map.