Thunderstorm knocks out power, causes fire, uproots at least 50 trees in Fredericton

Severe thunderstorm warning issued this afternoon for Saint John, Sussex and surrounding areas

Sarah Morin · CBC News · Posted: Jun 06, 2020 10:26 AM AT | Last Updated: 18 minutes ago

Businesses and residents in Fredericton are cleaning up after strong winds snapped tree branches and heavy rain flooded city streets Friday night.

As of noon on Saturday, more than 6,500 people in Fredericton were without power after a storm swept through the region.

The storm brought wind gusts of up to 90 km/h and as much as 20 millimetres of rain. It uprooted trees, damaged mobile homes on the outskirts of the city and caused an apartment fire downtown.

Wind knocks trees, damages homes

The Red Cross says at least six tenants were displaced by a fire in a four-unit apartment building on George Street when a tree fell on power lines and pulled down the electrical mast to the building.

No one was injured in the apartment fire or hurt in the damaged mobile homes.

More than 5,000 people in Fredericton are without power after high winds toppled trees Friday night. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
The Red Cross has arranged emergency housing and meals for a couple and their adult son who were displaced because of the George Street apartment fire.

The Red Cross is also providing lodging and food for a woman who spent the night at her friend's home. Most of the tenants in the apartment are staying with relatives or friends.

The Red Cross is also arranging emergency shelter and food for four adults whose mobile homes were damaged on Leafwood Crescent and Northwood Street in the Hanwell and Pine Grove mini-home community. 

Power to be restored later today

Fifty NB Power employees are working to restore electricity this afternoon. Workers from other regions are assisting.

One of several mobile homes damaged in Hanwell during Friday's thunderstorm. (Gary Moore/CBC)

Marc Beliiveau, spokesperson for the utility company, expects power will be restored by Saturday evening.

At the peak of last night's storm, around 3,700 were without power in Fredericton's downtown. There were more than 13,000 outages in the city and surrounding areas.

"It was a very, very severe wind event, lightning event, which has caused a lot of trees to come down on our wires on different parts of the city," Belliveau said.

NB Power recommends walkers, runners, bikers and drivers stay at least a school bus length away from downed lines, as the wire could be live and unsafe. Belliveau said those who see a downed power line should call NB Power or 911 to report it.

Wayne Knorr, a spokesperson for the city of Fredericton, said about 50 trees were toppled in the storm. That number does not include trees in city parks, like the 400-acre Odell Park.

"The challenge for us is when we get into our parks ... we have hundreds of acres of park space and we have tens of thousands of trees, so it does take awhile to determine if there's any damage in some of our parks," Knorr said.

City crews are clearing tree branches from streets so they can reopen downtown roads to traffic. Drivers should treat intersections where traffic lights are out as a four-way stop.

Knorr said clean up could take a few days, if not weeks.

NB Power crews in Hanwell work to restore electricity Saturday afternoon. (Gary Moore/CBC)

The Fredericton Boyce Farmers' Market, which was supposed to reopen today after having shut down for about two months because of COVID-19, is without power. In a Facebook post, the market said it plans to move its reopening to Sunday, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Kingswood Golf also sustained considerable damage from the storm. The golf course said it will take a couple days to clean up and will be closed until further notice because of the storm.

Storm isn't over yet

Fundy National Park, Moncton and southeast New Brunswick, Saint John and county and Sussex-Kennebecasis Valley and Kings county are under a severe thunderstorm watch.

Environment Canada says conditions in those regions are favourable for a thunderstorm with heavy downpours.

All of those communities, except for Moncton and southeast New Brunswick, are under a severe thunderstorm warning.

Rainfall amounts of 25 millimetres in an hour or 50 millimetres over a few hours are likely.

In Saint John, the temperature will reach a high of 12 C this afternoon and in Moncton the temperature will climb to a high of 17 C.

The temperature will reach a high of 19 C in Fredericton.

There is also a risk thundershowers could develop this evening in Fredericton. Around 10 millimetres of rain is expected.