More than 50,000 N.B. Power customers without power due to strong winds

Strong winds across the Maritimes have left more than 40,000 N.B. Power customers without power on Saturday afternoon — and it could be days before all customers have their power restored.

N.B. Power crews worked through Friday night restoring emergency outages where possible, said the utility.

Company spokesperson Elizabeth Fraser said crews will be on the ground Saturday, with additional teams being sent to heavily impacted areas.

“As we are still experiencing weather-related outages, this will be a multi-day event before all customers are restored,” she said in a statement Saturday afternoon.

As of 2:40 p.m. AT, just under 42,000 customers did not have electricity.

Top wind gusts in New Brunswick were recorded on Grand Manan Island at 135 km/h, says CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon. (Ryan Snoddon/CBC)

She said people should stay 10 metres away from any downed infrastructure and should not approach downed lines as they may be energized.

The three provinces experienced widespread gusts of 80 to 120 km/h, said CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon.

The strongest recorded winds in New Brunswick were in Grand Manan, where gusts of 135 km/h were observed, while Monastery, N.S., saw a peak of 127 km/h.

Report outages

Fraser said those without power should report their outage to the utility.

“It is the only way to ensure we know your power is out,” she wrote.

N.B. Power says it could be days before power is restored to all customers after strong winds caused widespread damage across the province. (NB Power )

Saint John outages

As many as 15,000 customers were without power in Saint John due to the loss of a transmission line feeding into the city, but there are now fewer than 50 customers without power, said Saint John Energy spokesperson Ryan Shonaman in an email.

Shonaman said the aim is to have everyone’s power restored by the end of Saturday.

CBC News has contacted Énergie Edmundston Energy, but has yet to receive a response.