飓风登陆已经开始

Hurricane Earl has been downgraded to a tropical storm but continues to bring high winds and heavy rain to Nova Scotia, knocking out power to tens of thousands of people as it moves through the Maritimes.

Earl landed in Lunenburg County as a Category 1 hurricane at about 11:30 a.m. AT, but weakened into a tropical storm as it moved inland, said CBC meteorologist Peter Coade.

Coade said the fast-moving storm was headed north towards Truro. Halifax was lashed with wind gusts up to 109 km/h.

[IMG]http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2010/09/04/ns-tp-halifax-tree.jpg[/IMG]

Trees are down all over the Halifax area, causing widespread power outages.


The provincial Emergency Management Office urged Nova Scotians to remain inside during the storm and stay off the roads.
Power outages were reported all along the south shore and up to Dartmouth, as well as in Kentville in the Annapolis Valley. About 80,000 homes and businesses were without electricity as of 11 a.m.


The road to Peggys Cove was blocked to keep storm watchers away. In Lawrencetown, a popular place for surfers, police stopped vehicles to remind drivers that the beach is closed.

"We don't want people thinking they are going to go out and play in the waves and put themselves in harm's way," said RCMP Const. Meredith Darrah.

The ferry service in Halifax was suspended, but buses were still running as of 11 a.m. The Mackay Bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles.

[B]Outages in P.E.I.[/B]

In Prince Edward Island, about 9,000 homes were without power in the Brackley/Stanhope area of Queens County.

Confederation Bridge, which connects P.E.I. with New Brunswick, was closed to high-sided vehicles because of the strong winds. Northumberland Ferries cancelled half the crossings between P.E.I. and northern Nova Scotia.

The storm was tracking more to the east than expected.

Strong winds and bursts of rain heralded the onslaught of Earl, starting in the Yarmouth area at about 6 a.m. AT. "It'll calm down and then for 10 minutes it will just pour," said CBC reporter Blair Sanderson.

Environment Canada said southern and central New Brunswick, western Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island could expect heavy rain — up to 70 millimetres.

Coade said the heaviest rain usually falls to the left of the storm's centre, while the strongest winds are to the right.

[B]Flights cancelled[/B]

In New Brunswick, Saint John was hit with sporadic rain and wind early Saturday.

All flights out of the Saint John airport were cancelled until at least 3 p.m. AT. The first crossings of the day for the Grand Manan ferry were cancelled as well. In Moncton, all morning flights were cancelled.

While U.S. forecasters downgraded Earl to a tropical storm, the Canadian Hurricane Centre was still calling it a hurricane until late morning as a buoy off Nova Scotia tallied hurricane wind speeds of 120 km/h.