Close to 2,000 NB Power customers still without electricity

Close to 2,000 NB Power customers were still without electricity Thursday, a day after a wind storm whipped through the province.

More than 900 customers without power are in the Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe areas and more than 600 are in the Acadian Peninsula.

• Another winter storm on the way for New Brunswick
• Harsh winds, cold on the way after Tuesday's wintry weather
• Frustration mounts over long power outages in New Brunswick

As many as 19,000 NB Power customers were without electricity Wednesday, as strong winds hit the province. By Wednesday night, that figure had dropped to about 8,500.

New outages overnight

Marc Belliveau, a spokesperson for NB Power, said there were new outages overnight.

"One of the issues is cold loads which is power shutting down when hundreds of houses still have all their lights onwhen the power is sent back to a line and it shuts itself off," he said.

"We encourage people who are out of power to shut down their non-essential electronics and appliances before being reconnected."

He said 100 crews are trying to restore service andthe utility hopes to have everyone reconnected Thursday.

The outages came less than two weeks after another wind storm left about100,000 customers without power.Some customers had to wait more than five days to have their power restored by NB Power crews.

Snow, snow and more snow

And, as if one winter storm wasn't enough this week, get ready for another.

Environment Canada said in a special weather statement a system moving up the eastern seaboard will bring snow, ice pellets and rain on Friday.

A snowfall warning has been issuedfor the Fredericton and Moncton areas, Fundy National Park, Grand Lake and Queens County.

In those areas, between 15and 20 centimetres of snow is expected throughout the day, before the storm tapers off Friday evening.

"Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations," the weather agency said in a statement.

"Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow. There may be a significant impact on rush hour traffic in urban areas."