Storm washes out roads, leaves thousands in New Brunswick without power

A storm that left thousands in New Brunswick without power has also caused flooding and road damage.

Sara Belyea, who lives in Bayswater on the Kingston Peninsula, says portions of Milkish Creek Road near her home are washed out, forcing the road's closure. Her daughter, who lives in Grand Bay-Westfield, told her there's similar damage there.

The weekend storm washed out Milkish Creek Road in Bayswater, N.B. (Sara Belyea)

Belyea will still head out tonight for her job at a women's shelter, trying her luck with the roads. The Westfield ferry, which would take her to Grand Bay-Westfield, has a flooded landing, and she doesn't expect it to resume operations today.

"That's part of the Kingston Peninsula living, though. When everything floods, you have to figure it out."

Milkish Creek Road in Bayswater, N.B., is closed after a weekend storm washed out parts of the road. (Sara Belyea)

The storm caused similar damage in Grand Bay-Westfield, where Sara Belyea's daughter lives. (Sara Belyea)

At its peak, there were more than 4,000 customers without power in New Brunswick on Sunday. As of 4:30 p.m., that number had dropped under 500.

N.B. Power said the outages, which were mostly in the Fredericton region, were due to the storm. Environment Canada had been calling for a mix of snowfall and freezing rain in parts of New Brunswick, with areas like Miramichi receiving 26 centimetres of snow and more southern areas like Pennfield Ridge in Charlotte County receiving 80 millimetres of rain.

While some parts of New Brunswick were only hit with rain, other areas definitely got dumped on during the weekend storm. The left photo was taken in Waterville near Hartland, and the photo on the right is from Pokesudie near Caraquet. (Left: Sherry Creighton-Howard; Right: Linda Champagne)

Thousands of New Brunswickers are without power Sunday morning following a weekend storm. (N.B. Power)