Thousands still without power as high winds pummel New Brunswick

As New Brunswickcontinues to be pummelled by flooding,thousands ofhomes and businesses across the province are now without electricity Saturday after high winds began knocking trees into power lines.

Most of the outages circle around Fredericton, Miramichi and the greater Moncton area but there are still thousands without power elsewhere.

Tens of thousands of people are also without power in parts of Quebec and Ontario due to high winds.

• Thousands without power across Quebec after high winds take down trees
• Over 143,000 still without power in Ontario after high winds batter province
• New Brunswick could still call in army, declare state of emergency over flooding

Marie-Andre Bolduc, a spokesperson with NB Power, told CBC News that crews are out assessing the damages and the utility will be putting together a timeline to restore power.

She said the high winds are causing some safety concerns for crewsand the utility is contacting partners in other jurisdictions to help with the power outages.

"We are looking at redistributing our resources to continue to help with both the flood and the outages caused by the winds," she said.

"We've also contacted our partners in the North Atlantic Mutual Assistance Group to help us with restoration efforts. We understand this is not easy for customers especially if they're already dealing with the flood situation."

NB Power is asking people to continue to report their outages online or by phone at1-800-663-6272.