Winds strong enough to blow a chimney off a house on Highway 7 swept through the Maritimes yesterday.
Gusts in the range of 100 kilometres per hour were reported near Halifax.
A woman in Musquodoboit Harbour called 911 just after 7:30 a.m. — at high tide — to say “the ocean was surrounding her house,” said Dave Meldrum, fire services spokesman.
Firefighters later helped the woman and her daughter escape the house.
At one point, Nova Scotia Power reported more than 30,000 customers without electricity in areas across the province.
Power outages closed eight schools in HRM for the day and caused traffic delays at dark intersections.
Power lines were down and some coastal roads were partially flooded.
A tree went down on Quinpool Road yesterday morning and a portion of Gottingen Street was closed by police for a period of time because they were worried that scaffolding would fly off.
Ferry service was also disrupted and there were weather-related delays at the airport.
“With the extra rain and wind there’s the potential for debris on the roadways, anything from garbage to, if you’re along the coast, boulders, with the power of the ocean,” Cpl. Scott MacRae, with the Halifax District RCMP, said yesterday.
