Blizzard bearing down on Atlantic Canada

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 09 Februari 2013 | 21.48

There are power outages and dozens of flight cancellations today in Atlantic Canada, which is in the path of a major snowstorm.

It appears Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will get the worst, with up to 40 centimetres of snow expected.

Forecasters say in some areas, the snow will be whipped by winds of up to 100 km/h, cutting visibility to almost zero. Severe whiteout conditions are reported for Nova Scotia's Cobequid Pass, the toll highway.

They also warn there could be some flooding along the Nova Scotia coast between Halifax and Yarmouth.

Over 5,000 customers woke up without electricity Saturday morning in Nova Scotia.

The power outage stretches from Yarmouth to St. Margarets Bay.

Nova Scotia Power said it hopes to restore electricity by 11 p.m. The utility says high wind and snow in the Barrington, Pubnico and Shelburne areas have crews working hard to restore service.

In New Brunswick, about 600 people in the St. Stephen area are in the dark this morning.

So far in Prince Edward Island, the lights are still on.

Travel challenges

Most of the flights flying out of the Halifax Stanfield International Airport have been cancelled.

"We've got two crews working to keep the runways clear. But the issue is the blowing snow and the visibility. Of course visibility is a huge concern for pilots. The airlines will see what the visibility is when the time comes and that will be their deciding factor," said airport spokeswoman Ashley Gallant.

All Marine Atlantic crossings have been cancelled today.

The region's inter-provincial bus service, Maritime Bus, has also cancelled all its scheduled routes today.

Most wharfs on the eastern side of Cape Sable Island are under water and Route 330 is impassable as a result.

Dick Crowell, emergency measures co-ordinator in Barrington, said about a metre of water is covering the highway.

"There was a roof on one of the older homes lying in the middle of the road in Clark's Harbour. I believe that's been cleared up. There are lots of lines down. There are trees that are down and one of the fish plants has about three feet of water all around it," he said.

Atlantic Canada is being pummeled by two fierce snowstorms that are combining.

One storm hit southern Ontario and Quebec on Friday, leading to at least three deaths in Ontario — two on the roads and an 80-year-old woman who was shovelling her driveway.

The other snowstorm hammered the northeastern United States, sweeping across the New York-to-Boston corridor.

The storm has dumped 47 centimetres of snow in parts of central Connecticut. More than 40 centimetres of snow is covering Mansfield, Mass., just southwest of Boston.

The U.S. National Weather Service says more than 90 centimetres of snow is expected in Boston, threatening the city's 2003 record of 70.1 centimetres.

Throughout the U.S. Northeast, 500,000 homes and businesses had lost electricity by Friday night as wet snow, freezing rain and howling winds caused havoc. Most outages are in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Thousands of flights have been grounded. New York City's airports are closed.

There's about 30 centimetres of snow east of the city.

with files from the Canadian Press

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