Post-Dorian power struggle in the CBRM

Powerful storm leaves more than 48,000 people without electricity

A large tree that was toppled during hurricane Dorian blocked Pleasant Street took down power lines and blocked off Pleasant Street in north end Sydney at about 8 p.m. on Saturday. The storm left more than 48,000 people without power. - SaltWire File Photo

SYDNEY, N.S. — Hurricane Dorian left more than 48,000 people in Cape Breton without power on Sunday morning.

According to Nova Scotia Power, at 10:40 a.m. there were 48,427 customers on the island who had no power. Many aren’t expected to get it back until Wednesday.

"This was the biggest storm with biggest impact on customers that Nova Scotia Power has ever seen,” said spokeswoman Andrea Anderson, who recommended people keep referring to their power outage map for current updates.

"Restoration time is going to be a couple of days, not a couple of hours for many people, unfortunately.”

CBRM crews remove debris laying on George Street in Sydney’s north end.

Laurie and David MacNeil of Sydney lost their power after a large tree fell down, toppling power lines and pulling part of another neighbour’s siding off.

David, 83, has lived in the home for his whole life and was born there. He said it is common for his household to lose power during storms and he was more concerned with a different tree closer to his house.

"It was bending over so much it was looking like it was straight,” he said, pointing to a chestnut tree that has a natural crook that goes the opposite way from their house.

“I was scared," said Laurie. “The window in the bedroom was shaking . . . and I felt the whole house shake three times.”

At Dorian’s peak, 402,000 customers across Nova Scotia had no power. Sunday morning, there were 367,799 customers who were powerless.

According to Environment Canada, 31.2 mm of rain fell at J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport, where winds were calculated at 104 kilometres an hour.

Lower Sackville and Oxford saw the highest amount of rainfall with 138 mm falling. Beaver Island saw the highest winds clocked at 145 km/hour.

A breakdown of power outages in Cape Breton on Sunday morning: