Strong winds disrupt travel, cut off electricity to thousands in Nova Scotia

Thousands of Nova Scotia households are without power as the province contends with heavy winds that are expected to continue into the evening.

Around 4:30 Monday afternoon, more than 42,000 Nova Scotia Power customers were impacted.

The outages started along the coast of the Bay of Fundy and have since spread across the mainland, with a handful in Cape Breton, according to the utility's outage map.

"Southerly winds are howling, pumping in mild temperatures, ranging from lower to upper teens. It's as warm as 18 degrees in Greenwood in the Annapolis Valley," CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said in an update on Monday afternoon.

Snoddon said heavy rain is expected in Nova Scotia Monday afternoon and into the evening.

Environment Canada issued wind warnings across Nova Scotia earlier Monday.

(Ryan Snoddon/CBC)

(Ryan Snoddon/CBC)

The weather agency predicted southerly winds with maximum gusts of 80 km/h to 100 km/h from Monday afternoon until evening on the mainland. In Cape Breton, the worst winds were expected to begin in the afternoon and end at night.

Environment Canada warned of potential damage to buildings, as well as power outages.

Icy conditions expected Tuesday

"As the rain tapers off from west to east throughout this evening, we'll see the winds ease dramatically and shift to westerly," he said.

He said cooler air is expected overnight into Tuesday.

"With lots of standing water from the rain and melted snow, watch for icy conditions on Tuesday morning," Snoddon said.

Travel disrupted

Nova Scotia Power issued a news release Sunday afternoon to say it would activate its emergency operations centre on Monday.

The utility said it would position crews across the province so they could respond as soon as it was safe to do so.

Halifax Transit suspended ferry service shortly before 5 p.m. Monday and said it would bus passengers between the Halifax and Dartmouth terminals.

Several flights at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport were also delayed or cancelled Monday afternoon.

Marine Atlantic cancelled all ferry crossings between Port aux Basques, N.L., and North Sydney scheduled for Monday.

(Ryan Snoddon/CBC)

(Ryan Snoddon/CBC)

Bay Ferries Limited said it has revised one sailing and cancelled two others.

The 4 p.m. Digby sailing on Monday was cancelled as was the Tuesday Saint John sailing at 8 a.m.

The company said on its website that service will resume Tuesday with the 11 a.m. Digby departure.

Northumberland Ferries Limited cancelled several crossings between Nova Scotia and P.E.I.

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