Picton Pause

An unexpected stopover in Burgeo, Newfoundland for the crew of Picton Castle. The tallship hauled in to wait out Hurricane Bill over the weekend. Captain Daniel Moreland says it wasn't a port they were planning on visiting as they were wrapping up their latest voyage. But he says all the same, it was a delightful visit. In the past 15 months, Picton Castle and her crew have visited 65 ports of call in 28 countries, traveling more than 18,000 nautical miles. Now homeward bound, Picton Castle is expected to arrive in Lunenburg on Saturday (August 29th) where she will spend the winter before embarking on a fifth voyage around the world in May 2010.

Bill Damage Assistance

Major work will be needed to repair the damage Hurricane Bill did to the causeway at Western Head. Member of Parliament Gerald Keddy says it's not clear if the repair bill will qualify for federal dollars. He says the provincial government has to pay for the repairs and then apply to the federal government for assistance. He says the Disaster Relief funding automatically applies when damages are above a million dollars. The M-P for South Shore/St. Margaret's says Bill did quite a bit of damage in areas of the riding in Western Head and in Lockeport.

Power Outages

Hurricane Bill was vicious on the trees and because of that, there were numerous power outages across the province yesterday. And Stacy Pineo with Nova Scotia Power says the only are still without electricity is in Lunenburg county. There are trees down on a section of feeder line that runs through the woods. Crews will be touring that line as soon as the sun comes up this morning. They expect the power to be restored by midday. The areas affected are in Maders Cove, Sunnybrook, Hermans Island, Martins Brook, Second Peninsula, Stonehurst, Eastern Points and the area around there. And Pineo says there are scattered or individual outages around the province bringing that total number this morning to 435 customers.
Click here for a link to the Nova Scotia Power outage map.