'Many, many trees' on power lines lead to outages in Alberton, O'Leary

About 1,400 Maritime Electric customers are without power as a winter storm blasted P.E.I., with about 90 per cent of the power outages in Alberton and O'Leary.

• See a full list of cancellations on Storm Centre
• Call your cancellations into 1-877-236-9350

Maritime Electric said 20 crews are working in the area, as well as two crews of tree trimmers. It expects crews will work into the night, and possibly into the early morning to restore power.

"Many, many trees have come down on our lines," the utility said in an e-mail.

Freezing rain fell for hours overnight, followedby rain and strong winds. The rain is making it difficult to keep salt on the roads to melt ice. Conditions are particularly bad in eastern P.E.I., with icy roads and lots of standing water.

Public schools closed Wednesday on P.E.I. as heavy rains fell and strong winds blew.

Maritime Electric reported 600 outages overnight, but that number was down to about 20 before a major outage hit western and central parts of the Island.

Provincial civil service offices closed in West Prince with delayed openings in other areas. UPEI and Holland College also closed.

High-sided vehicles were prohibited from crossing Confederation Bridge for about eight hours overnight due to strong winds. The bridge later reopened to all traffic.

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