Maritimers Grow Weary Of Multiple Storms As Rain, Snow Hit Region Again
Posted December 27, 2010 6:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Weariness with severe weather was setting in Monday in parts of Atlantic Canada as the region coped with power outages and slippery roads caused by the fourth storm in as many weeks.
Utility websites showed that more than 20,000 homes and businesses in Nova Scotia were without power, and about 11,000 customers of NB Power had no electricity at noon on Monday.
Maritime Electric in Prince Edward Island was also reporting about 4,000 outages by the middle of the day.
Blizzard conditions were forecast for northeastern New Brunswick as snow was driven by gusting winds.
Karl Wilmot, a senior manager with the Emergency Measures Organization in New Brunswick, said people calling his office are fatigued and depressed.
“After a repetition of four times in less than a month, fatigue and malaise of the whole thing sets in and people are definitely wearing down,” said Wilmot.
“You can tell in peoples’ voice when they call to register under the disaster financial assistance that people are tired.”
Four storms have hit the province this month, ranging from heavy rainfall in the south to coastal flooding in the east.
Over 150 people were forced to move out of flooded homes in southwestern New Brunswick and the Keswick Ridge area after the second storm.
Last week, high waves pounded the east coast of the province from the Miramichi through to Shediac, forcing more evacuations.
Wilmot said assessment teams that had been doing inspections of damaged homes were forced to stop their work on Monday due to slippery roads.
Linda Libby, a forecaster with Environment Canada, said Monday’s storm was expected to ease through the middle of the day and then pick up again in the evening when strong northwesterly winds arrive.
Temperatures hovered around zero in southern New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, causing the snow to turn to rain and making the roads treacherous and slushy.
“My biggest concern for today are the road conditions, given the temperatures out there. What can be wet and sloppy and not that bad can become icy and hazardous very quickly,” Libby said Monday.
The forecaster said a storm surge is also possible along the east coast of New Brunswick between Miramichi and Shediac, where a surge last week caused widespread damage to beaches and buildings.
Libby says it’s possible there will also be storm surges of up to one metre in Nova Scotia’s Pictou County and along the coasts of P.E.I.
Wilmot said that EMO in New Brunswick had contacted its local managers along the east coast about the latest warning.
“We don’t expect the water levels to be quite as high as last week, but we are expecting the pounding surf,” he said.
Environment Canada said southwestern Newfoundland could see strong wind gusts of over 100 km/h.
December has been a difficult month for many parts of the Atlantic region, where roads and bridges have been damaged, homes flooded, fishing gear destroyed and some wharfs and boardwalks pounded to bits.
In Cape Breton, rainfall levels have been triple the average.
The storm system caused thousands of flight cancellations Sunday in the northeastern U.S., and there were delays reported at the Halifax airport on Monday.
Dozens of U.S. bound flights from Canada, mainly from Toronto, have been cancelled or delayed, and travellers are advised to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport.
