With freezing rain expected to continue into Tuesday, crews continue to restore power to thousands of customers around New Brunswick.
By mid-afternoon, there were 129 outages affecting more than 13,000 N.B. Power customers — the majority of them in the south-east in the Moncton and Shediac areas.
Schools and mulitple sections of highways were closed Monday morning after several hours of freezing rain and ice pellets in most of the province over night.
Environment Canada said freezing rain is expected to continue for the rest of Monday into Tuesday morning in all parts of the province except along the Fundy coast.
Despite widespread cancellations elsewhere, the Grand Manan ferry experienced no cancellations or delays on Monday.
Brian Ryder, the director of passenger services for Coastal Ferries, said wind speeds were about 30 knots, but the direction was favourable from the north, northwest. The real problems, he said, are with south-southeast winds that make docking difficult.
While pictures on social media showed a rough ride, Ryder said, “The vessel can typically handle more than people want to sail in.”
A second storm batters New Brunswick, this one made of ice
Ice pellets pelted everything in New Brunswick on Monday making for a challenging clean-up.
All school districts were closed because of the weather. All NBCC campuses but Moncton were also closed on Monday, as well as Sussex Christian School.
At its peak, there were about 14,000 customers without power on Monday morning, but the numbers continued to fluctuate throughout the day. By 4 p.m., the number of affected customers dipped to about 7,400 but an hour later, it jumped to more than 14,500, with the hardest hit areas continuing to be in the southeast.
N.B. Power spokesperson Marc Belliveau said restoration times depend on the amount of work required and the location of the outage.
At Bayfield, near Port Elgin, for example, a broken pole in deep woods required special all-terrain equipment. About 480 people were affected by that outage.
“In some cases, a repair on a transmission line can restore power to thousands of customers in one fix. That’s the case on work being carried out right now on a transmission outage in the Turtle Creek area near Moncton,” Belliveau said.
Vitalité clinic closures
Vitalité Health Network said all of its clinics in northwest New Brunswick and in the Bathurst area and on the Acadian Peninsula are closed.
The Haut-Madawaska Medical Clinic will be closed all day. Community Mental Health Centres and Public Health in Caraquet, Shippigan and Tracadie will be closed until 1 p.m. A decision whether to open in the afternoon will be announced in late morning, the health authority said.
Horizon Health Network lists no closures.
Advisory from SNC-Lavalin: Weather and road conditions have improved on Route 2 TCH (Trans-Canada Highway) between KM 257 Upper Kingsclear and KM80 in Grand Falls. Travel not recommended notice is lifted. 11:35 am
Significant ice build-up because of the freezing rain is expected or already happening.
The Saint John area and Fundy National Park are the only locations excluded from the freezing rain warnings. Those areas, as well as Moncton and southeastern New Brunswick are under a rainfall warning, with 20 to 30 millimetres of rain expected.
Moncton, Grand Manan and Kent County are under rainfall warnings as well as freezing rain warnings.
According to road condition advisories, sections of some highways are impassable. New Brunswick 511 listed 20 highway closures as of noon Monday. There are also several accidents reported causing further highway delays
Driving conditions on much of the Trans-Canada Highway were extremely poor, said RCMP, but improved enough for the advisory to be lifted as of 11:30 a.m. Monday.
Environment Canada is forecasting a prolonged period of ice pellets and freezing rain into this evening.
“Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots will become icy, slippery and extremely hazardous,” the weather advisory says. “Beware of branches or electrical wires that could break under the weight of ice.”
Tim Houston, who is seeking a second term as Nova Scotia premier, said he had no plans to invite Poilievre to join him on the campaign ahead of the Nov. 26 provincial election. He explained the provincial Progressive Conservatives have no formal ties with the Tories in Ottawa — and he made a point of saying he is not a member of the federal party. Experts say it also is because the latest polls suggest Atlantic Canadians have not warmed to Poilievre. (Nov. 5, 2024)
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — It has been a rough few days for Clemson coach Dabo Swinney. First, his 19th-ranked Tigers lost to Louisville on Saturday night, then he was told he couldn’t vote Tuesday at his polling place.
Swinney, whose given name is William, explained that the voting system had locked him out, saying a “William Swinney” had already voted last week. Swinney said it was his oldest son, Will, and not him.
“They done voted me out of the state,” Swinney said. “We’re 6-2 and 5-1 (in the Atlantic Coast Conference), man. They done shipped me off.”
Dabo Swinney had to complete a paper ballot and was told there will be a hearing on Friday to resolve the issue.
“I was trying to do my best and be a good citizen and go vote,” he said. “Sometimes doing your best ain’t good enough. You have to keep going though, keep figuring it out.”
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EDMONTON – The judge leading a fatality inquiry into the knockout death of a boxer is recommending changes to how the sport is regulated and how head injuries are monitored.
Timothy Hague, who was 34, competed in a boxing match licensed by the Edmonton Combative Sports Commission in June 2017 when his opponent, Adam Braidwood, knocked him unconscious.
Hague came to and was able to walk to the dressing room, where he vomited, and was then taken to hospital where he underwent surgery for a large brain bleed.
His condition did not improve, care was withdrawn and Hague died two days after the fight.
Justice Carrie Sharpe with Alberta’s provincial court made 14 recommendations, including that combat sports be overseen by a provincial authority instead of a patchwork of municipal bodies and that there be concussion spotters at every event.
She also recommends that if a fighter receives a blow to the head in a technical knockout, they must provide a brain scan to prove they are fit to compete again.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
