EARL UPDATE (12:55 PM)

Its been a busy few hours for power crews along the South Shore as hurricane Earl passes through the area.

Overnight the storm changed direction and instead of making landfall in communities bordering the Bay of Fundy, it moved more toward the northeast travelling along the Atlantic coast.

However, the high winds, some gusts as high as 120 km/hr, brought trees down and power lines with them.

There have been numerous power outages all along the south shore from Barrington to Bridgewater and Lunenburg.

While the National Hurricane Centre in the United States categorized Earl as a tropical storm, the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Dartmouth confirmed the storm as a Category 1 hurricane late this morning.

Earl is now forecast to track across the mainland of the province through this afternoon in Halifax, Lunenburg, Guysborough and Pictou counties and into Antigonish.

High winds are also forecast for Cape Breton.

A tropical storm warning, hurricane watch, wind warning and a rainfall warning are still in effect for Bridgewater.