Thousands lose power, roads impassable as Lee moves across Nova Scotia
Lee started its trip across Nova Scotia in the darkness of Saturday morning, and by daylight thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers were without electricity as the powerful storm moved across the province.
More than 160,000 customers were without power as of 4 p.m., according to Nova Scotia Power’s outage map. The total number ebbed and flowed through the day as some customers were reconnected and others lost power. The outages stretched across the province from Yarmouth to Cape Breton.
Lee was offically a post-tropical storm as of noon, but still had maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h, which is the equivalet of a weak Category 1 hurricane, Saltwire Network’s Allister Aalders said.
The rain started falling early Friday night, and winds were picking up by 3 a.m. At noon Saturday, the updated forecast puts landfall in Yarmouth in early afternoon, with the track sending it through Digby Neck and then across the Bay of Fundy into New Brunswick.
Many coastal roads have been rendered impassable by the storm surge pushing rocks and debris onto the pavement. The provincial public works department said Highway 3 at Queensland Beach is not safe for driving. Highway 207 was closed from MacDonald House at Lawrencetown Beach to Leslie Road because of flooding.
A tree fell across HIghway 10, blocking traffic between Annapolis and Lunenburg counties for a time. New Road (The Hawk) in Shelburne is closed because of the storm surge and debris. Many other roads were reported as impassable for a variety of reasons.
Dial 5-1-1 or follow @511ns for information about provincial road closures.
You can also find information online at:https://t.co/qP0K1xEKFT
— Department of Public Works (@NS_PublicWorks) May 29, 2023
The gusting winds from the east — reaching over 90 km/h in many areas — were blowing sheets of rain, tree branches and unsecured items in many areas of the mainland.
Fire departments across the province have been responding to calls of trees on power lines. There are reports of many trees down in Shelburne County, part of the coastal areas where storm surges and the heaviest winds are expected.
Frequent power bumps are also setting off fire and burgalr alarms, keepng emergemcy service personnel hopping.
We’re live from across Nova Scotia as what is now post-tropical storm Lee approaches Nova Scotia. #nsstorm #hurricanelee https://t.co/OpPrPSycah
— Nova Scotia Webcams (@nswebcams) September 16, 2023
In Halifax, downed trees and power outages closed all municipal parks and most municipal recreation facilities for the remainder of the day, and all grass fields, all-weather fields and the Halifax Public Gardens are closed for the weekend.
The MacDonald and MacKay Bridges are closed to high-sided vehicles and buses will be re-routed as required, and ferry trips were suspended at 10:15 a.m.
Bus and Access-A-Bus service is expected to continue as scheduled throughout the day, but residents should expect delays as the weather system moves through the province. Updates can be found at halifax.ca/transit, as well as Twitter.
The provincial government opened emergency shelters Friday night for anyone dealing with homelessness at the Captain Spry Community Centre on Sussex Street in Halifax, St. Matthew’s Church at 1479 Barrington Street, and Beacon House at 125 Metropolitan Street in Lower Sackville. Street outreach navigators were visiting encampment sites to advise people of sheltering options available, and Halifax Ground Search and Rescue team members are doing wellness checks on those who don’t go to one of the shelters.
Tad windy at the NRC station in Sandy Cove. pic.twitter.com/7RasUwxPbQ
— chris lambie (@tophlambie) September 16, 2023
The ground has been soaked by weeks of regular and heavy rains, and trees are more likely to topple because of the saturation. Up to 10 centimetres of rain is expected today in some areas of the province
The storm surge was pushing large waves into the rocks at Peggys Cove as security patrolled the area to keep people away from danger.
Lee became post-tropical at the 6 a.m. update but still had category 1 force maximum sustained winds of 130 km/h Saturday morning.
Post-Tropical Cyclone Lee made landfall on Long Island around 5 p.m. with maximum sustained winds estimated to be 110 km/h.
In Yarmouth, some trees were down in the early morning wind ahead of landfall, requiring some temporary street closures while crews cleared them away.
In Kentville, the heavy rain again sent torrents of rain down Condan Avenue and across Park Street, an area that has been beset by problem over the past few years as water pours down from higher elevations through the area.
Nova Scota Power said in a release at 9 a.m.that from Yarmouth through the Annapolis Valley and up the South Shore to Halifax County had been the areas hardest hit to that point.
“Crews have been able to restore power to some customers early this morning, however, conditions are getting worse. In many cases, especially when winds are above 80 km/h, it isn’t safe for our crews to be up in the buckets, so we focus on assessing damage and restoring power from the ground where possible,” Matt Drover, NS Power storm lead, said in the release.
Wave activity at False Harbour beach in Cape Forchu, Yarmouth County NS during Lee around noon Saturday & some scenes along the way. @SaltWireNews @chronicleherald @TVanguardnews pic.twitter.com/2N7hRgnt8w
— Tina Comeau (@TinaComeaunews) September 16, 2023
As Lee continues to move across the province, accessing affected areas may also become a challenge for crews in light of localized flooding and dangerous driving conditions from high winds and debris, NSPI said. There are over 600 people in the field, including powerline technicians, forestry workers and damage assessors.
“We know how challenging losing your power can be. We want customers to know our crews are working to restore power as soon as it’s safe to do so,” Drover said.
— Jason Malloy (@JasonMa47772994) September 16, 2023
The peak wind gust at Environment Canada stations by noon was 105 km/h in Baccaro Point.
While it was arriving as a tropical storm or post-tropical storm, there won’t be much difference between that and a hurricane, Bob Robichaud, a meteorologist with Environment Canada and the Canadian Hurricane Centre, said Friday.
“We expect this storm, as it approaches and as it gets close to the coastline, it should be very close to hurricane strength, we’re thinking just below. It will still be a large storm, very near hurricane strength at the time, whether it’s tropical or post-tropical prior to arriving here.”
Second time in three days Condon Avenue in Kentville (across from the baseball field) is flooded with water coming across Highway 1. pic.twitter.com/NRiyVqVIwQ
— Jason Malloy (@JasonMa47772994) September 16, 2023
Robichaud said the impacts will be felt a great distance beyond where the centre actually tracks.
This will not be an in-and-out storm in the province, either.
“I’d say the worst conditions, you’re looking at about 12 hours,” he said. “All told, for many areas, it’s going to be more than 24 hours, even up to 36 hours, that you’re going to see some sort of gusty winds from the storm itself because it’s going to last into Sunday certainly for some areas.”
While southwestern Nova Scotia will have the highest winds and heaviest rainfall, hurricane watches on Friday associated with Lee were extended to Halifax and even into parts of the Eastern Shore.
Big waves rolling into Halifax at the Herring Cove Look-off. pic.twitter.com/DbmtmjHdSu
— chris lambie (@tophlambie) September 16, 2023
Nova Scotians are urged to stay away from coastal areas because of the risk of storm suurges and high waves.
