Second major winter storm in a week leaves thousands of PEI homes without power on Saturday

Maritime Electric said it could take some time to restore homes that have been left without power. All company crews were ready to hit the road this morning, but most were unable to do so due to poor road conditions.

Plow operators helped the company access some communities on Saturday.

“Many roads across Prince Edward Island are not open at this time. Our crews were able to carry out work this morning, [but] the driving conditions were very difficult,” company spokesman Kim Griffin said.

“Our crews will stay outside and do their best to restore power as safely as possible, but it’s very slow in this weather.”

The outages have occurred across Prince Edward Island, but the majority of homes currently without power are in the east. A map can be found here.

Weather alert always on

An Environment Canada winter storm warning was lifted for Prince and Queens this afternoon, although it remained in place in Kings County as of 5:30 p.m. Blowing snow advisories in the other two counties were in effect. vigor.

CBC meteorologist Jay Scotland said some areas were reporting nearly 30 centimeters of snow by mid-morning, with more snow falling throughout the day.

“While the falling snow continues to ease, snow drift/draught will still be a big issue tonight. Please stay home if possible, so those who have to go out in these conditions are safer,” a he declared.

Scotland said winds peaked at between 80 and 100km/h, so drift was “significant, to say the least”.

Griffin said the strong winds created a challenge to restore power.

“It’s different from last weekend’s storm because with last weekend’s storm we didn’t have as many sustained hours of wind and blowing snow,” she said.

Chase the road

Provincial plows remained off the road and responded only to emergencies due to weather conditions. The Prince Edward Island government said on social media that it will remain out of service until Sunday morning.

In Charlottetown, plows began to open the streets Saturday afternoon.

Officials also warned Islanders not to travel in conditions of poor visibility and blowing snow.

The Confederation Bridge was closed to all traffic Friday at 8 p.m.

Charlottetown Airport flights scheduled for this weekend have been canceled, as have rapid COVID-19 testing at the airport due to weather conditions.

Testing clinics in Borden-Carleton, Charlottetown and Summerside were closed for the day.