15,000 without power during storm

As winds increase across the province this afternoon, so have the number of outages and Islanders without power.

The number of customers without power jumped to more than 15,000 by 2:30 p.m. said Maritime Electric spokesperson Kim Griffin.

The utility had started the day with just 400 without power, but that number jumped to 3,000 before noon, and then 5,500 by early afternoon just as the winds started to power up again with gusts approaching 100 km/h.

The latest outages are occurring along the North River Road section of Charlottetown, including Inkersman, Queen Elizabeth, Spring Park Road and Brighton. Additional outages have occurred in Brackley and Tignish.

Still without power are parts of Alberton, Georgetown, Borden, Margate, and a large section of southern Kings.

The original outages saw 900 in Alberton and 400 in Georgetown affected. There are other scattered outages across the province. Other outages were in Pownal, Tea Hill, Crossroads, Dover area, and 1,400 surrounding the Victoria Cross substation, including Eldon, Lower Montague, Gaspereaux and Panmure Island.

The utility held crews back early Monday morning from making repairs until it was safe to do so.

Once secondary roads were plowed, 11 Maritime Electric crews began to head out to problem areas shortly after 7 a.m.

The Confederation Bridge remains closed to all traffic as the powerful winter storm continues to pound P.E.I.

The total closure came into effect at 11:24 a.m. Monday, after partial restrictions had been in place since early morning. This is the second complete closure within a month following a brief full shutdown Nov. 22.

Environment Canada dropped its winter storm warning at 11 a.m., but issued a wind warning and continued its storm surge warning.

The latest forecast is calling for flurries and blowing snow as southwest winds, now 50 km/h gusting to 80 will become west 60 gusting to 100 early this afternoon. Temperature will remain steady near minus 5.

The winds on the strait are gusting at over 100 km/h, resulting in total bridge closure.

Department of transportation and highways is reporting that road conditions were deteriorating across the province over the noontime as winds increase and blowing and drifting snow made conditions worse.

A department spokesman is urging everyone to stay off the roads until conditions improve. Plows were being pulled off secondary roads because of poor visibility.

Most businesses and offices across P.E.I. delayed opening this morning or simply shut down for the day, and thousands of Islanders woke up to power blackouts as the result of the snowstorm which struck overnight Sunday.

A storm surge of 0.8 to 1.2 metres is expected at high tide late this afternoon or early this evening along the Northumberland Strait. This will give a water level of about 0.5 metres above highest normal tides with minor flooding possibly close to the shoreline.

The north shore of Prince Edward Island is of particular concern late this afternoon where large waves and heavy pounding surf driven by gale to storm force winds will accompany these elevated water levels giving flooding along the shoreline and possible coastal erosion and infrastructure damage.

With Christmas just three days away, stores were bracing for one of the heaviest shopping periods of the year but most are delayed opening this morning.

Most of the outages occurred in southern Kings County and Alberton areas. Winds were recorded in some parts of the province at over 120 km/h.

Roads are described as treacherous across the province but conditions are even worse in western P.E.I. where temperatures never got above zero and the precipitation remained as snow.

The snow changed briefly to light rain in Kings County and parts of Queens around dawn but has since shifted back to snow as the winds shifted to the west and strengthened.

Plows have been on main roads and some secondary roads but howling winds are filling roads back in a short time later.

Some main streets in Charlottetown are plowed but side streets are not. Sidewalks are described as pedestrians beware.

Flights at the Charlottetown airports have been delayed or cancelled.

Northumberland Ferries finished their season on Saturday and schools are shut down for the Christmas break.