A miserable mix of wind, rain and snow Thursday kept all students out of school, gave many employees a day home from work and sent several vehicles sliding off roads.
SaltWire meteorologist Cindy Day described the late fall storm as a sloppy system.
“It had elements of everything in it,’’ she says.
In O’Leary, close to 30 cm of snow had hit the ground by early afternoon.
Charlottetown and Summerside, added Day, received considerably less (roughly seven and 10 centimetres respectively) of the white stuff, much of which melted on impact.
Wind, though, was far more relentless with gusts reaching 103 km/hr in East Point and steady gusts throughout the day in Charlottetown blowing between 75 and 85 km/hr. Wind gusts at North Cape topped 100 km/h. That prompted Environment Canada to issue both a wind warning and a storm surge warning.
Large waves and pounding surf threatened to elevatewater levels along north-facing coastal areas. Water was spilling onto roads in North Rustico, but Gary Gallant, EMO co-ordinator for the North Rustico fire district, says possible erosion or other damage could not be assessed Thursday.
Day says the winds were damaging not only due to their strength but as a result of their long duration.
Wind delivered a heavy blow to power with widespread outages across the province.
Maritime Electric crews started hitting the roads at 2:30 a.m. Thursday to work at restoring power, which was lost to as many as 51,000 of the public utility’s 80,000 customers. As of 5:30 p.m., there were still 46,000 customers without power.
Heavy, wet snow and high winds conspired to snap branches and crack poles, wreaking havoc on power lines.
“This is a pretty extensive storm for us,’’ Kim Griffin of Maritime Electric said Thursday as she worked tirelessly to keep the public informed on progress and setbacks in providing power to Islanders.
Griffin said it could be late Friday night before everyone has power again.
“This is probably one of the most significant outages we’ve seen,’’ she said. “It’s very slow going. This has been a very bad storm.’’
Here’s an update from Kim Griffin on the storm and restoration efforts. pic.twitter.com/2kKG1livVw
— Maritime Electric (@MECLPEI) November 29, 2018
The entire city of Summerside lost power at about 9:15 a.m. Thursday when its power supply from New Brunswick was cut off.
All of Summerside's 7,000 customers were without power at one point. Greg Gaudet of Summerside Electric said it took about an hour to restore electricity to about half of the utility's customers.
Gaudet said the wind was too gusty to operate the city's wind turbines.
Queens District RCMP dealt with roughly a handful of single vehicle accidents, mostly involving motorists sliding off the road and in need of a tow. No serious injuries were reported.
RCMP Cpl. Scott Gosse says slushy roads and high winds created poor driving conditions in Queens County.
“Slush can be just as bad as ice,’’ he said.
Along Route 2 in Pleasant Valley, multiple vehicles were off the road with poor conditions making it unsafe for towing for a time.
In East Prince, only two vehicles had left the road by mid-afternoon Thursday, each requiring towing with no injuries involved.
“Less than ideal…mostly slush and wind,’’ said RCMP Const. Roman Grygorchuk.
West Prince RCMP Const. Dawson McWade said roads were bad Thursday morning in the western part of the province.
“There was barely any traffic this morning,’’ he said. “People saw what it was like out and they stayed indoors.’’
Indeed, the majority of Islanders hunkered down at home.
Provincial civil service offices and UPEI and Holland College campuses were closed for the day.
There was a system-wide shut-down for the Public Schools Branch and the French Language School Board.
Confederation Bridge imposed restrictions Thursday, and Northumberland Ferries had no sailings due to weather conditions. There were also delays and cancellations to flights at Charlottetown Airport.
Patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown were tweeting Thursday morning of a possible fire at the hospital.
A spokeswoman for Health P.E.I. noted a fire alarm in the generator room was set off due to a heat build-up. There was no fire. The situation was given the all clear within minutes.
Related:
- List of P.E.I. communities opening warming shelters Nov. 29
- More than 51,000 Maritime Electric customers without power across P.E.I.
- The hunt for coffee: P.E.I. residents wake up without power and seek out java
- Major winter storm leaves much of Atlantic Canada without power, shuts schools
- Poll: How long was your power off on Thursday?
- Click here for the latest updates from SaltWire Network meteorologist Cindy Day
