There is more to come, but a storm that swept across P.E.I. Wednesday caused few headaches throughout most of the day.
As of 8 p.m. today power had been restored to Souris and surrounding area, says Kris Jackson, spokesperson for Maritime Electric.
At one point up to 2,100 customers were without power but this evening there remains scattered outages throughout the province.
At approximately 8:30 p.m. transformers blew in Charlottetown, sending residents in the south-east portion of the city into darkness.
There is more, possibly worse to hit through tonight.
Environment Canada meteorologist Linda Libby said the winds started to pick up in the afternoon with the strongest sustained winds in East Point where gusts peaked at more than 100 km/h between 1p.m. and 2 p.m.
Libby said winds in the inland areas were ranging from 50 km/h to around 70 km/h and were slowly moving to the east.
"We won't necessarily see much improvement in the wind for quite a while yet, but as it's moving off it's also intensifying, complicating matters for us," she said.
On the positive side, Libby said the heavy bands of rain that were on the radar Wednesday morning let up by the afternoon with only a few millimetres falling per hour.
That was a change from a range of 2.5 mm to 6 mm earlier in the day, with East Point reaching a high of 11 mm in one hour, she said.
"There were some heavier areas of intensity out there, but they really only occurred over a one or two hour period."
As for the total rainfall, about 27 mm fell in North Cape by mid-afternoon, which was the lowest amount in the province, while Libby said Charlottetown received the most with about 60 mm falling in the capital.
Environment Canada expected rain to continue through the afternoon with showers overnight and strong winds in the early evening as the storm moved closer to Newfoundland and Labrador, she said.
Libby added strong winds were still likely for Thursday.
"It's still going to be windy, but will probably be below warning criteria," she said.
Along with heavy winds and rain, P.E.I. was experiencing storm surges with the province's measuring station in Charlottetown showing levels above 60 cm.
The Confederation Bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles starting around 9 a.m. Wednesday and Northumberland Ferries crossings were cancelled.
Public Safety Department spokeswoman Tanya Mullally said there were a few anecdotal reports of power outages and minor flooding as of late afternoon Wednesday, but nothing official.
If there were any major issues the department would get reports soon after they happened and although there were few problems throughout the day Wednesday, Mullally said there was still a need to be vigilant.
"We're not possibly out of the storm yet and perhaps not even done the worst of it yet," she said.
Mullally said the department would have a better picture of the storm's impact by Thursday.
"We can only cross our fingers at this point that Mother Nature will be gentle with us," she said.
Meanwhile, at the Charlottetown Yacht Club, Brandon Baker said the wind was coming off the land so there weren't any swells going in to the marina.
"Everything's just coming in flat," he said.
Some people pulled their boats out of the marina before the storm hit and while Baker said there were still 23 left in the water Wednesday afternoon, the storm wasn't causing them any problems.
"Everything's sitting. Not even moving, pretty much."
Parks Canada has removed the stairs at Stanhope campground beach, Dalvay Beach, and the two sets of stairs west of MacNeills Brook on the Gulf Shore Parkway West in preparation for a storm surge forecast for this evening.
The campgrounds in the park will be closed until normal weather resumes and Parks Canada advises the public to stay off beaches and trails and away from the cliffs.
rross@theguardian.pe.ca
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