Arthur causes power outages, flight delays in Maritimes

This NOAA satellite image taken Friday, July 4, 2014 at 01:45 a.m. EDT, shows Hurricane Arthur rolling across the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Photo: AP Photo/Weather Underground

HALIFAX — Hurricane Arthur was downgraded to a post tropical storm Saturday as it hit the Maritimes, but the storm still caused widespread power outages for tens of thousands of people in parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre says the storm is moving more slowly and winds gusting up to 90 kilometres an hour were expected in parts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The storm caused flight cancellations and delays at the region’s largest airport in Halifax.

Meteorologist Stephen Hatt of the hurricane centre said wind gusts of 90 to 100 km/h were reported in the Yarmouth area of Nova Scotia.

This Friday, July 4, 2014 aerial photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows flooding caused by Hurricane Arthur on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Arthur struck North Carolina as a Category 2 storm with winds of 100 mph late Thursday, taking about five hours to move across the far eastern part of the state. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert)

Heavy rain was falling in southern New Brunswick, which is expecting 100 to 150 millimetres of rain and local residents were reporting roads covered with flood waters in Fredericton and Saint John on Twitter.

As the storm continues to track in a northeast direction, Hatt said the blustery, wet conditions will last about 12 to 18 hours in any given location.

He said strong wave action is also expected, but no significant storm surge.

Late Saturday morning, Nova Scotia Power said 113,000 of its customers were without power while the utility in New Brunswick reported 56,000 outages.

Officials restricted traffic travel between New Brunswick and P.E.I. across the Confederation Bridge because of high winds, preventing certain classes of vehicles from making the crossing, including motorcycles, those pulling trailers and high-sided trucks and buses.