Waves crash against a breakwater in Port Maitland, N.S. as post-tropical cyclone Lee approaches on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Curry
Tens of thousands of hydro customers remain without power as Lee, now a strong post-tropical storm, begins moving out of the Maritimes into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Environment Canada says New Brunswick, the Gaspe Peninsula, and the Quebec Lower North Shore will continue to experience heavy rain Sunday, while high winds and large waves will continue to impact much of Prince Edward Island, eastern Nova Scotia, and the Magdalen Islands.
As of 3:30 a.m. ADT, Nova Scotia Power was reporting outages affecting nearly 106,000 customers, more than 11,700 NB Power customers were in the dark and just over 800 Maritime Electric customers were without power in P.E.I.
Tropical storm warnings remained in effect for eastern Nova Scotia, much of Prince Edward Island, and the Magdalen Islands, with those regions also under wind warnings, with gusts of up to 100 kilometres an hour in those areas.
Environment Canada warned that trees may be uprooted more easily because the ground is oversaturated after heavy rain over the past several months and in recent days.
High winds are expected to greatly diminish by noon Sunday.
Rainfall warnings are in effect for much of New Brunswick, eastern regions of the Gaspe Peninsula, Anticosti Island and portions of the Quebec Lower North Shore, with the heaviest rains moving out of New Brunswick today and into the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The weather agency says areas near and to the left of the storm’s track could see more than 100 millimetres of rainfall.
The eastern half of the Atlantic coastline of Nova Scotia are expected to continue to see high waves and elevated water levels, with breaking waves up to five metres reported in areas facing the open ocean early this morning.
The latest update from Environment Canada put the storm about nine kilometres west of Moncton, moving northeast at 33 kilometres per hour with maximum sustained winds of 93 kilometres per hour.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2023.
