Electricity still out for 1,200 N.B. customers as strong winds persist
About 1,200 NB Power customers are without electricity and some roads are impassable as strong wind gusts continue Tuesday night.
The largest outages are in central York and Sunbury counties, with 541 customers in the dark around 9:50 p.m. AT Tuesday, according to NB Power's online outages list.
The Crown utility didn't have an estimated restoration time for about half of those outages, with roughly 200 estimated to have their power back on by 12:30 a.m. Wednesday at the latest.
Meanwhile, roughly 303 outages were reported in the Acadian Peninsula, 221 in the Carleton County area, and 100 in the Charlotte County southwest area. Restoration times for those outages ranged from 10 p.m. Tuesday to 1 a.m. Wednesday. There were around 40 customers without power in other areas of the province.
More than 4,000 customers were without power earlier Tuesday evening.
Snow-covered roads
The Department of Transportation is reporting several roads are either impassable or only open to emergency and service vehicles, primarily in the northern part of the province.
Highway 11 between Six Roads and Tabusintac on the Acadian Peninsula is closed to general traffic, along with Highway 113 from Baie de Shippagan to the Miscou Channel, and the Trans-Canada Highway from Grand Falls to Saint-Leonard.
The province says there is drifting snow, poor visibility and icy patches throughout those areas.
Highway 11 from Janeville to Bertrand is closed.
Most of the Trans-Canada Highway is marked as partly covered in snow and ice, with travel not recommended. Other roads north of Fredericton and Moncton are either fully or partly covered in snow and ice with travel not recommended, while roads south of Fredericton are bare.
The outages and road closures come as Environment Canada issued wind warnings for the Acadian Peninsula, Bathurst and Chaleur region, Campbellton and Restigouche County, warning that wind gusts could reach 90 km/h in those regions.
Wind gusts are expected to last throughout the day and end by Wednesday morning.
"These very strong winds will cause extensive blowing snow, especially over exposed areas, and a blowing snow advisory is now in effect for these regions as well," Environment Canada said in a statement.
"High winds may toss loose objects or cause tree branches to break."
