Thousands of New Brunswickers are still without power after high winds — some gusting upwards of 110 kilometres per hour — rocked the province on Saturday and Sunday.
At its peak, nearly 100,000 households and buildings were without power. Southern New Brunswick and the Acadian Peninsula were hardest hit, but outages occurred clear up to the North Shore and along western New Brunswick to Edmundston.
Twenty schools, mainly in the greater Moncton and Fredericton regions, were closed without power Monday. By Monday afternoon, nearly 50,000 NB Power customers were still without power, down from roughly 93,000. The utility says it could be Wednesday before power is restored to those still in the cold and the dark.
Heating stations are set up in several communities and the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization is warning residents to be careful if using a gas-powered generator. On Monday morning, a spokesperson for the NB EMO said four people had been treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after using a generator inside their home.
The EMO says generators should never be used inside a home or garage, and should be kept far from the home and away from windows and ventilation systems. Two people died of carbon monoxide poisoning after the January 2017 ice storm in the Acadian Peninsula.
As winds picked up Saturday evening, social media was abuzz with residents wondering just what the heck was going on and how bad things were going to get.
.Some more reactions from Facebook:
Neighborhood in total darkness. Crazy wind. Seeing electrical transformers exploding #nbstorm
You know it’s windy when you feel like you’re experiencing an earthquake. Surprisingly, the lights keeps blinking but we still have power! #NBStorm #DieppeNB
#Fredericton well I will remember this drive home from work for a long time. #nbstorm lots of water on the roads. #DriveSafe #DriveSlow
Photos of trees ripped from the earth and videos of transformers blowing up flooded social media.
Some properties sustained serious damage.
On Sunday morning, part of the canopy at an Irving gas station on the north side of Fredericton, tore off and fell on a customer’s truck just moments after they’d exited the vehicle.
Children’s playhouses, play structures and trampolines were whipped about yards — and neighbourhoods.
Not surprisingly, the wind storm conjured memories of the devastation wrought by Post-Tropical Storm Arthur in summer 2014.
#NBStorm I’ve been prepared for over a decade for total power outages lasting 10 days or more. Only outage I’ve suffered in that time was Arthur. Saturday morning till Wednesday evening. Plus if needed I could have bought gas. #NoAnxiety. #WorthIt. #AlwaysBePrepared.
There were some close calls.
On top of power outages, some areas of the province experienced flash flooding from heavy rains just before the wind really picked up.
And, of course, some New Brunswickers added a bit of levity to the wild night.
“It’s times like this (power outage) that I’m glad I have a second fridge just for beer. #NBStorm”
