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 12:50 p.m., there were NB Power 548 customers, the majority in Kent County, still without electricity, which was a substantial drop from the 17,500 customers across New New Brunswick who lost power throughout the weekend.
Between 30 and 40 crews are working to repair lines, said Marc Belliveau, a spokesperson for NB Power.
"We really want to focus on the area of Kent County where all of those outages are," he said.
Belliveau said there are still areas the crews haven't been able to reach because of fallen trees and flooding.
This is the case with Targetville, a community in the Local Service District of Weldford Parish, southwest of Richibucto, where 150 customers are without power.
"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.
Hoyt, a community south of Fredericton, was decimated by flooding like many parts of New Brunswick. (Debbie McCann/Facebook)
Meanwhile, Robert Duguay, a spokesperson for the provincial Emergency Measures Organization, said 70 residents in the Musquash area were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday evening.
On Saturday, they were ordered to leave their homes because of fears the nearby East Branch Dam was becoming unstable.
"It happened that the situation stayed stable and waters started to slowly decrease," Duguay said Monday morning.
Duguay said the increase in water levels and the ice jam along the Magaguadavic River in Charlotte County were the biggest issues for EMO officials.
"The situation stayed stable yesterday," he said. "The water started to decrease, so we didn't have any major issues."
Duguay said a special phone line will be put in place Monday that people can use to report damage if there's flooding in their homes. He said a service will also be available to people affected by flooding and needing advice.
"We're going to continue to watch any rivers with concern, like Magaguadavic and Miramichi, to make sure the ice jam won't create any more problems," he said. "That's the main point of concern today."
He said the cost of the damage would be assessed by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure over the next few weeks.
Restoring key transportation links
Meanwhile, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Bill Fraser said some roads and bridges are closed.
The province is deciding its priorities for repairs based on the population of the affected areas and whether there are other ways in and out.
"We have some areas in the province where people were stranded," he said.
Crews have been working around the clock since before the storm started, he said.
"Our crews are out today and they've been out all weekend performing interim repairs and assessing the extent of the damage," Fraser said in an interview with Information Morning Moncton.
He said the main goal now is to restore key transportation links, which will happen in the coming days and weeks.
"There is a significant amount of work to do," he said.
Moving into recovery phase
Ice (Catherine Harrop/CBC News)
On Sunday, the New Brunswick EMO announced it had moved into a recovery phase in Musquash, near Saint John.
"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, an official with the Energy and Resource Development, said a 42-hour evacuation was issued but there was no apparent damage to the dam.
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)
"How do you pack within 10 minutes for a week?" asked Sabrina Janes, one of the residents forced out. Her family was packed within 10 minutes after being told to leave, she said.
"What's most important and what do you really need? Most of it doesn't matter anyway."
Stranded for 6 hours
On Saturday, Eric and Beverley Duffy took the Westfield ferry to Grand Bay-Westfield to collect heaters and gas for their Bayswater home in the Kingston Peninsula that lost power earlier in the weekend.
The couple said they were about 100 feet (about 30 metres) from shore late Saturday afternoon, when they saw the cable break.
"I looked at my husband and said, 'We're going for a ride,'" said Beverley.
They were stranded on the ferry for six hours.
"There's nothing you can do but sit there and watch the landing go further and further away."
About 15 cars and about 20 people were on the New Brunswick ferry. So the couple spent time talking with other passengers and watched the ice go by.
"There's no fast way to deal with it," said Eric Duffy.
Passengers were stranded on the Westfield Ferry for about six hours on Saturday. (Photo submitted by Beverley Duffy)
Eric Duffy said a boat tried to tow the ferry back to the landing, but it was no use because the outgoing tide was hampered the effort.
A second boat was called in and the tide eventually changed. The two boats ended up pulling the ferry onto the Grand Bay-Westfield side, where the couple took another ferry to get home.
Passengers were able to make it back to shore shortly before midnight, the couple said.
But Eric Duffy, who typically works on ferries for the Department of Transportation, said at this time of year, the passengers could've been out on the St. John River all night.
"If the ice kept flowing like it was flowing, when the cable first broke, it would really make it hard for any boats to get to us," he said.
The ferry is now back in service. The day after being stranded, Eric Duffy had to take the ferry again to fuel his generator. This time, his wife wouldn't go with him.
"This is part of life here on the Kingston Peninsula," he said.
Water everywhere
Hoyt's Bell Bridge sustained damage from water and ice. (Catherine Harrop/CBC)
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.
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