Rothesay Avenue was one of the roads flooded in east Saint John Saturday night. (CBC)

High winds and heavy rain Saturday knocked out power to thousands of homes in some parts of the Maritimes.

In Saint John, N.B., several streets and homes were flooded after 116 millimetres of rain fell.

And residents of Riverside-Albert, a village near Fundy National Park, have been advised to boil their water.

Just two months ago, post-tropical storm Danny caused havoc in the region, with heavy rains flooding dozens of basements and streets.

Power crews in Nova Scotia were busy Sunday restoring electricity to about 2,000 customers.

In New Brunswick, more than 6,000 homes were without power for several hours, said Marianne Limpert, spokeswoman for NB Power.

About half of the affected homes were in the Fredericton region. A major transmission line that runs from one substation to another lost power and caused the outages, she said.

In the Rothesay area, near Saint John, more than 2,000 customers were without power for about three hours. Heavy tree branches knocked around by wind came in contact with the power lines and caused the outages, Limpert said.

Police ticketing rubberneckers

This truck on McAllister Drive was one of dozens of vehicles ignoring police road blocks. (CBC)

Meanwhile, many streets on the east side of Saint John were closed to traffic due to flooding, including much of the Glen Falls area, and parts of Rothesay Avenue, McAllister Drive, Westmorland Road and Foster Thurston Avenue.

Dave Aspen tried to make it through the flooded McAllister Place mall parking lot in his Jeep and ended up having to calling a friend to tow his vehicle.

"I think I hit a bit of a pothole or something and it's a little deeper than expected, and she went up over the hood and the engine died, lost power," Aspen said.

"Tried a little bit of a push, but once it starts going uphill and you're in the water, you're pushing on the water. That's not going to happen with one person.

"Now I have to wait for the engine to dry out so she'll start back up and I can go home."

Police had barricades up and were issuing $172.50 tickets to anyone who crossed them, said Staff Sgt. Steve Patterson.

Staff Sgt. Steve Patterson says police have zero tolerance for motorists ignoring barricades and they will issue tickets for $172.50. (CBC)

"There's zero tolerance. I mean, there's no breaks," he said.

Vehicles driving through flooded streets can make the situation worse because they create a backwash, which results in more water going into homes that are already flooded, Patterson said.

"Every storm you get the rubberneckers and the gawkers and the nosy people. Stay home. We don't need you out here when we're trying to get the water cleared … They're impeding things," he said.

"It's not showing consideration for their neighbours … I mean listen, if they want to look at water … go look at the Bay of Fundy. Stay out of these areas. We don't want them in these areas.

Firefighters help pump flooded basements

"I don't know what the big deal is to see somebody suffering because there may be water around their house."

Patterson said it could be a couple of days before the water recedes and the barricades come down on some streets, based on the experience during Danny, which brought about 100 millimetres of rain to the area.

Saint John firefighters responded to more than 30 calls for flooded basements across the city, said District Chief Gerry Morris. He suspects many more were flooded, but didn't call for assistance.

Some of the homes had up to four feet of water, Morris said.

"People get pretty upset. I mean, when you wake up in the morning, go down in the basement, see all your personal property floating around, it's pretty hard to take," he said.

Make sure kids don't drink water: Health Department

"One thing you got to be concerned about when the water does come in is electrical shocks. And water gets up around furnaces and stuff like that, it can be dangerous, too," he added.

Most of the calls were residential, but a few were commercial, including Sears at McAllister Place, Morris said. It had "severe flooding" in the warehouse area at the back of the building and some stock was damaged, he said.

In Riverside-Albert, all water for drinking, preparing infant formulas and juices, washing fruits and vegetables, cooking and dental hygiene should be held at a rolling boil for one minute, the Department of Health advises.

Toddlers and infants should be sponge-bathed, and caregivers need to make sure the children do not swallow any water that hasn't been boiled, the department cautions.