6:30 a.m. – 277K homes, businesses lost power during Lee

The remnants of post-tropical storm Lee are crossing the Gulf of St. Lawrence on their way toward Newfoundland as of mid-afternoon Sunday.

Lee came ashore at Nova Scotia’s Long Island around 4 p.m. Saturday and then rolled through New Brunswick in the evening.

What is left of Lee continues to weaken and is expected to reach Newfoundland by Sunday evening, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre.

Most of the warnings related to the storm have come to an end, except for a rainfall warning for portions of Quebec’s Lower North Shore.

The tri-county area in Nova Scotia received some of the highest rainfall totals from Lee.

Here is a summary of rainfall totals, as of 2 p.m. Sunday, released by Environment Canada.

• Port Maitland: 80 mm
• Cedar Lake: 77.5 mm
• Lower West Pubnico: 63 mm
• Yarmouth: 59.7 mm
• Bear River: 59.4 mm

The Halifax Stanfield International Airport recorded the highest wind gust at 117 kilometres per hour.

Wind gusts reached 111 kilometres per hour at Beaver Island, 109 kilometres per hour at Brier Island and Lunenburg, and 107 kilometres per hour at Baccaro Point.

Tens of thousands of Nova Scotians are still without power after Lee tore through the province.

Nova Scotia Power says 277,000 homes and businesses have lost power at some point during the storm, with a peak of around 160,000 customers just after the storm made landfall on Saturday night.

There were more than 22,000 Nova Scotia Power customers still without electricity as of 6:30am Monday, with more than 1,400 separate outages being reported.

According to the utility, more than half of the affected customers are in the Dartmouth, Bridgewater, and Liverpool service areas.

Crews were hamstrung a bit on Saturday by the strong winds that prevented them from going up in buckets to make repairs in most areas. However, with the storm tapering off, they’ll be able to work throughout Sunday and into the week if needed.

The emergency operations centre opened on Friday at noon and will remain open until all outages have been restored across Nova Scotia.

To access the Nova Scotia Power outage map click here.

Damage report

Lee did a number on Nova Scotia with its intense winds and powerful storm surges yesterday. Communities across the province are reporting downed trees and powerline, and many coastal roads have been made impassable by the surge.

Reports of fallen trees have been coming in from across the province. (Courtesy of Nova Scotia Power).

In Halifax, part of South Street had to be shut down after the winds blew debris from a rooftop construction site onto the street below. Videos on social media show trees near power lines catching fire and snapping after junction boxes blew.

The Halifax Waterfront was closed on Saturday, and for good reason. Reports indicate the surge was so strong that deck boards were ripped up along sections of the boardwalk.

HRM created an interactive map tracking damage throughout the region. Click here to take a look.

Northumberland Ferries has cancelled a handful of its sailings for the second day in a row as the effects of Lee still linger. Trips between Nova Scotia and Pei have been shut down as lee bears down on the island.

Flights are running again today after the Halifax Stanfield Airport shut down all travel yesterday. There are still many flights that have been delayed or outright cancelled by he storm. To check the status of flights in and out of Stanfield Airport click this link.

A handful of ferry trips between Dartmouth and Halifax were cancelled this morning, but service expected to resume at 8:00 a.m.

For updates on Halifax Transit disruptions please click here.

Healthcare services impacted by the storm

A handful of healthcare services were forced to close yesterday due to the storm. Below is a list of all the affected services:

• Twin Oaks Memorial Hospital’s emergency department will be closed, reopening at 8 a.m. Monday
• Hants Community Hospital’s emergency department is closed today from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Eastern Kings Memorial Health Centre, Wolfville, After-Hours Clinic is closed today.
• Fishermen’s Memorial Hospital emergency department, Lunenburg, is open reduced hours today and will close at 1 p.m. It will reopen tomorrow, Mon. Sept. 18 at 7:30 a.m.

The Nova Scotia Health Authority has extended their hours for the virtual care clinic in an effort to treat people impacted by the closures.

With files from Evan Taylor, Caitlin Snow, Kevin Northup, Kelli Rickard, Steve MacArthur, and Scott Pettigrew.

Spoiled food

A lot of people have been without power for over a day now and that means some food is starting to go bad. As a rule of thumb, items like meat and dairy that aren’t cold to the touch anymore should be thrown out. Things like bread, fruits, and vegetables should still be fine, but always use your best judgement to make sure you don’t keep spoiled food around.

The Emergency Management Office has put out a full guide on what foods to keep and what should be discarded. Check it out in the tweet below.