Kyle dumps rain on N.B., heads for P.E.I.
Downgraded hurricane batters Eastern Canada with rain, heavy winds
Last Updated: Monday, September 29, 2008 | 7:01 AM AT
CBC News
A fisherman in Shag Harbour, on the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia, prepares for Hurricane Kyle on Sunday. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)The worst of hurricane Kyle was over Monday morning as it was downgraded to a post-tropical storm while heading across southeastern New Brunswick and toward Prince Edward Island.
The storm weakened substantially after making landfall near Yarmouth, N.S., as a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday night said Environment Canada Meteorologist Stephen Hatt.
The area around Shelburne, N.S., bore the brunt of the storm, Hatt said.
There were no reports of injuries or casualties from the storm, which clipped southwestern Nova Scotia with sustained winds of 120 kilometres/hour.
The post-tropical storm was south of Saint John on Monday morning, packing winds gusting between 80 and 110 kilometres per hour.
The storm is also still expected to dump 50 to 100 millimetres of rain on parts of New Brunswick.
Emergency officials in the Maritime provinces are reminding residents that the level of rainfall could cause flash flooding near rivers and streams.
The storm is expected to reach Prince Edward Island by Monday afternoon.
CBC meteorologist Peter Coade said the heaviest rains fall on the west of side of the storm's track and the strongest winds are to the east.
"This is why Nova Scotia escapes most of the rain and has the wind, and New Brunswick gets most of the rain and doesn't get as much wind," he said.
Kyle didn't wreak the havoc that some experts had feared.
The heaviest damage caused by Kyle in the Maritimes has been to electrical systems.
Crews in Nova Scotia were reporting Monday morning that high winds and fallen trees were hindering the progress of restoring power in the province where about 9,000 people were still without power.
It's difficult to predict when customers without power will get their electricity back, said Glennie Langille, spokesperson for Nova Scotia Power.
In New Brunswick, most customers had their power restored by morning.
Kyle hit the Maritimes almost to the day of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Juan, which ripped through Nova Scotia in 2003 causing about $150 million in damages, leaving eight dead and thousands without power.
With files from the Canadian Press
