NOVA.SCOTIA (CBC) - The worst of tropical storm Cristobal seemed to be over Tuesday night, after it dumped more than 150 millimetres of rain on parts of Nova Scotia as it passed south of the province.

The storm is expected to keep moving northeast off the coast late through the night before changing direction to head southeast, just missing Newfoundland, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Dartmouth, N.S.

"It's still a good ways offshore, about 400 kilometres," meteorologist Bob Robichaud said Tuesday afternoon.

Before 12 noon AT, Baccaro Point and Cape Sable Island in the southwest had received more than 160 millimetres of rain. The average rainfall for the entire month of July is 100 millimetres.

Shearwater received 35 millimetres as of 11 a.m. AT while Sambro recorded 125 millimetres.

Approximately 45 millimetres of rain fell on Halifax beginning Monday.

"Most of the heavy rain is localized right around the Atlantic coast," said Robichaud, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

"The further north you go, the further north you get from the system, the less rain there is," he added. "Most of the strongest winds from the storm have remained offshore."

Main Road closed in Eastern Passage

There were reports of flooded basements in Barrington, while in Eastern Passage, a section of Main Road is closed due to flooding.

The deluge was the topic of the day for residents along the West Pennant Road in the Sambro area.

"Well, it's just a mess," said Brandon Hart, a cashier at Mishoo's Variety Store in Sambro. "It's a lot of water running off towards the ocean and it's basically washing out one of the main intersections here."

CBC meteorologist Peter Coade said tropical storm Cristobal isn't the only reason for the deluge.

"We had a frontal trough over the area yesterday. That gave almost 40 millimetres of rain yesterday, up until 3:00 this morning," he said. "Then Cristobal came up and added to that moisture content of that other trough, so we had two events that go together over the area."

With files from the Canadian Press

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