High winds, rain pound Maritimes

Thousands of Maritimers were without power Fridaynight aswild winds and driving rain continued topound parts of the region.

About 6,100Nova Scotia Power customers, from Queens and Lunenburgcounties to the Halifax Regional Municipality, were without power as of 10 p.m. Earlier in the evening, as many as 32,000 customers were without power.

Gusting winds knocked down trees throughout the metro area, and many downtown Halifax businesses were closed because of the power disruptions.

At Duke and Granville streets in Halifax,police cordoned off theroad after scaffolding blew down. A portion of Wyse Road in Dartmouth was closed because part of a roof was blown into the middle of the street.

Many flights in and out of Halifax Stanfield International Airport have been delayed or cancelled.

Four people are temporarily homeless after storm-force winds tore part of the roof off a building housing two apartments, a hair salon and a service club in downtown Bridgewater.

The Canadian Red Cross placed volunteer members of its emergency response teams in several areas of Nova Scotia on standby at least until Saturday morning because of the potential for localized flooding from the storm.

That included teams based in Yarmouth, Bridgewater, Kentville and Dartmouth.

N.B. roads dangerous

In New Brunswick, driving conditionswere worseningas the Trans-Canada Highwaywas hit with rain and snow.

Ross Mathers, a spokesman with the Maritime Road Development Company, which oversees the highway from Longs Creekin central New Brunswick to Moncton, said the weather has created tricky driving.

"We're expecting about five centimetres in about three hours, which is a very high rate of snow, so you have to be careful," Mathers said. "There have been a couple of fender-bender-type accidents in the last hour of so."

Mathers said nobody was hurt.

Meanwhile, conditions aren't much better in the northern part of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Felicia Murphy, a spokeswoman for Brunway, the company that handles snow clearing for the highway from Longs Creek to the Quebec border, said drivers need to be careful.

"There have been a couple of accidents," she said. "There are some slushy, slippery sections out there," Murphy said. "Speed is definitely a factor. Once somebody tries to get out in the passing lane, it's going to be a totally different condition than the driving lane."

As of 8 p.m., NB Power was reporting 27 power outages affecting 1,809 customers. There are 803 customers without power in Woodstock and another 733 people in St. Stephen.

The Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and P.E.I. is closed to high-sided vehicles including tractor-trailers and buses because of high winds. The restrictionsstarted at 7 p.m.

Environment Canadasaid to expectbetween 50 and 100 millimetres of rain in areas, with the possibility of a storm surge along parts of the Atlantic coast. Wind gusts of up to 90 km/h were expected.

Gusts to 136 km/h

In Halifax, the MacKay Bridgewas closed to high-sided vehicles, whilepedestrians and cyclists were kept off the Macdonald Bridge.

Winds were gusting to 136 kilometers an hour in Halifax Harbour, with sustained winds of just over 84 kilometers per hour, said John Birchall, operations manager with Halifax Harbour Bridges.He tracks the wind speed on computers in his office.

"Three gusts in so many minutes, then we make decisions about whether we need to close the bridge to high-sided vehicles," he said Friday.

Birchall said the two harbour bridges can be dangerous in high winds.

"We are concerned about safety of the vehicles," he said. "Thats why we start off with high-sided vehicles. They have more surface for the wind to catch. We dont want any vehicles being blown over, so we start with high-sided vehicles.

"Then we scale it down to the bike lane and the pedestrian walkway. We dont want people blown off the side of the bridge."

The Nova Scotia government urged residents to prepare for possible flooding.

Meanwhile, Marine Atlantic advised customers that vessel arrivals and departures between Nova Scotia andNewfoundland and Labradorwere expected to be off schedule for 24 hours because of the weather. Customers can call 1-800-341-7981 for more information.

The South Shore Regional School Board closed several schools because of power outages. Several school districts cancelled class Friday based on the forecast of snow and freezing rain. School was out in the Fredericton, Oromocto and Woodstock areas.

U.S. also battered

The weather system is also affecting the U.S. East Coast, bringingstrong winds and snow.

New York City public school studentsgot theday off. In Hampton, N.H., officials said a block of businesses was destroyed when the wind intensified a hotel fire.

Air and road travelhas beendisrupted across the northeast. New York City's three airportsare expecting numerous cancellations Friday and advising travellers to check with airlines before heading to the airport.