New Brunswick continues to clean up Monday morning after a mix of rain, wind and unseasonably warm temperatures knocked out power to thousands of residents and caused flooding across the province over the weekend.
As of 7 a.m., 780 NB Power customers were in the dark, with 340 in the Kent County area.
Marc Belliveau, a spokesperson for NB Power, said there were about 17,500 customers without power throughout the weekend and 70 crews on scene.
As of Monday, he said there will be between 30 and 40 crews who will be busy repairing lines.
"We really want to focus on the area of Kent County where all of those outages are," he said.
Belliveau said there's still more work to be done on Monday, as there's still parts of the province where crews haven't been able to access due to fallen trees and flooding.
In Targetville, a community in the Local Service District of Weldford Parish, there are still 150 customers without power. an area that crews can't access.
Belliveau said crews have been having trouble accessing that area due to fallen trees and flooding.
"It was a very challenging weekend," he said.
Some of the areas most impacted by the storm included the Kennebecasis Valley, Kings County and Kent County areas, where thousands of customers lost power.
High water levels forced about 100 residents in Musquash out of their homes as local EMO officials keep an eye on a dam upstream. (Matthew Bingley/CBC)
Meanwhile, Robert Duguay, an EMO spokesperson, said the 70 residents in the Musquash area were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday evening.
On Saturday, residents were ordered to leave their homes due to fears of the nearby East Branch Dam destabilizing.
"It happened that the situation stayed stable and waters started to slowly decrease," Duguay said on Monday morning.
Moving into recovery phase
On Sunday, EMO announced they had have moved their operation into the recovery phase.
"There's a considerable amount of repair work to be done, both in terms of infrastructure and the road network and in many cases, individual homes," said Greg McCallum, the organization's director.
Over the weekend, Neil Jacobson, a director for Region 3 for the Department of Energy and Resource Development, said a 42-hour evacuation was issued but there was no apparent damage to the dam.
Hoyt's Bell Bridge sustained damage from water and ice. (Catherine Harrop/CBC)
Sabrina Janes was one of the residents forced out. She said her family was packed within 10 minutes after being informed they had to leave.
"How do you pack within 10 minutes for a week? What's most important and what do you really need? Most of it doesn't matter anyway," she said.
Water everywhere
Meanwhile in Hoyt, a community about 56 kilometres south of Fredericton, water made roads impassable. The community's historic covered Bell Bridge also suffered heavy damage from high water levels on the turbulent South Oromocto River.
While the bridge was not swept downstream, boards were ripped out and smashed, with water flowing through the structure.
"It's very doubtful at this time that that bridge will ever see another car on it," said Brandon Luke, fire chief of the Hoyt Fire Department.
Parts of Elsipogtog First Nation near Rexton were also under water.
McCallum said about 20 homes suffered flood damage and the band council set up a warming centre. While assessments are still ongoing, McCallum said at this point the community has determined it doesn't need any assistance from the province.
Roads in the southeast were also badly damaged.
On Sunday, Highway 126 from Rogersville to Moncton was closed to all traffic. Highway 116 from Harcourt to Rexton was only open to emergency and service vehicles.
There was a total of more than 40 roads and highways in the province, under some sort of restriction, including many that were closed completely.
To encourage thoughtful and respectful conversations, first and last names will appear with each submission to CBC/Radio-Canada's online communities (except in children and youth-oriented communities). Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted.
By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. Please note that CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Comments are welcome while open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.
Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are moderated and published according to our submission guidelines.
