UPDATE: 12 p.m: Aftermath Of Fiona: Cleanup, Power Outages Continue

UPDATE: 12 p.m:

The number of power outages in our province is holding steady.

Nova Scotia Power is still showing over seven-thousand outages this hour.

They say over 180-thousand customers are still without power across the province.

The government and officials are providing an update today at 12:30, and Premier Tim Houston is expected to announce financial relief for those affected at 3 p.m.

A local State of Emergency is in effect in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, and comfort centres are now open across the province.

Schools from Halifax to Cape Breton are closed, along with many government offices.

RCMP are asking those in hard hit areas to stay off the roads, and allow cleanup of fallen trees and power lines.

The number of Nova Scotia Power customers still in the dark after Hurricane Fiona is hovering around 200,000.

As of first thing this morning, there were around 7,000 active outages in the province.

NS Power spokesperson Matt Drover says crews got a really good look at the damage from Hurricane Fiona yesterday.

“We were able to get buckets in the air, and really focus on a damage assessment. We had drones in the air as well to gather as much information as possible,” says Drover.

Drover says hundreds of power poles are down, especially in Cape Breton, where there is extensive damage.

He says their biggest challenge going forward will be getting crews into difficult areas.

“We’re working closely with EMO on that, getting roads cleared and making sure that we have access to those areas. We are getting crews in there to repair those poles, some locations have whole streets where trees have come down and broken almost every pole on the street.”

It could be Wednesday or Thursday before power is back on in some areas.

Comfort Centres:

Comforts centres are open in Cape Breton and other areas affected by Hurricane Fiona.

To find a comfort centre, visit novascotia.ca/alerts or phone 2-1-1 or contact your municipality.

Historic Storm:

Fiona made landfall in Nova Scotia as a post-tropical storm in the early morning hours of Saturday.

Environment Canada says it was a category-two hurricane strength storm when it made landfall near Canso.

Forecasters say the central pressure of the storm was the lowest recorded in Canadian history.

The highest wind gusts in our province were recorded in Arisaig, near Antigonish, at 179 kilometres per hour.

There are unconfirmed reports of over 200 millimetres of rain near Antigonish, while over 150 millimetres fell in Port Hawkesbury.

Sable Island Horses Survive Fiona:

Wild horses on Sable Island survived Hurricane Fiona.

According to the Sable Island Institute, four Parks Canada staff were on the island during the storm.

In an update, they say everyone is fine, but there is a lot of wind damage and debris to clean up around their base.

They say erosion will prevent their vehicles from checking beaches for a while.

The horses came out from the sheltered areas Saturday morning and were behaving as usual.