Stormy weather delays power restoration

Between 3,000 and 4,000 customers with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro were still without power on Saturday morning, as crews with the utility tried to overcome the effects of this week's storm.

Power had been knocked out Thursday as a strong storm swept in from the Maritimes to western Newfoundland.

Hydro official Merissa Wiseman said power was being restored until onshore winds caused lines to drop out.

"There's a transmission line that runs between Cow Head and Rocky Harbour and it runs very close to the coastline," Wiseman told CBC News.

"Because there's some southwest winds, that brought sea salt onto the line and that accumulated onto the insulators and caused flashing."

As well, Wiseman said a line in the Daniel's Harbour area has been damaged, probably by fallen trees.

On the Baie Verte Peninsula, Wiseman said power is being gradually restored, but again, fallen trees are a problem and some individual homes have had their power connections torn apart by the high winds.

Newfoundland Power was also reporting a string of outages in its service area, with severe weather conditions and trees on power lines listed among causes.