High winds cause havoc across N.S.

Meteorologists warned of high winds and periods of heavy rain across Nova Scotia on Thursday and Mother Nature did not disappoint.

The heavy rain started early Thursday morning, while the winds picked up later in the day, knocking out power to tens of thousands across the province.

Despite the sun shining in Halifax on Friday morning, fallen trees and strewn debris were still evident from the day before.

There were also still outages across the province affecting more than 1,000 Nova Scotia Power customers as of Friday afternoon. At the peak of its outage Thursday evening, more than 20,000 customers were without power.

Nearly 44 millimetres of rain fell at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Thursday, while other parts of the province saw less precipitation. Yarmouth recorded 34 mm of rain, while Kentville recorded 32 mm, Sydney, 31 mm and Truro, 24.5 mm.

Part of the side of the road on Canaan Avenue had been washed out during the heavy downpours of rain Thursday.

But it was the wind that appeared to cause more havoc throughout Halifax Regional Municipality.

Thursday afternoon, Halifax firefighters were called to a construction site where a worker was reported to be trapped under construction material, most of it rebar, on an upper floor of a building.

Deputy chief Dave Meldrum said when firefighters arrived at the Quinpool Road site near The Willow Tree exchange, they found that co-workers had already freed the trapped person. Crews provided some initial medical treatment and then turned the worker’s care over to paramedics.

“What we understand happened was there was some construction on the roof with panels and rebar preparing for a pour of concrete and the wind made it fall,” Meldrum said.

He said some material also fell to the street below, which was then closed to traffic.

The provincial labour department is investigating the incident. No update was immediately available Friday morning.

Meanwhile in Dartmouth, a driver's commute along Pleasant

Street came to an abrupt halt when a large tree branch fell on their vehicle.

Halifax Regional Police said the driver was treated at the scene for non-life-threatening injuries.

A home under construction on Flatrock Crescent in Beechville didn't survive the high winds Thursday.

Wind gusts up to 98 kilometres per hour were recorded at the airport.