P.E.I. storm causes power outages, accidents on slippery roads

The worst of P.E.I.'s first snowfall of the winter season seems to be over.

Road conditions were slushy and slippery early Tuesday into the afternoon as rain turned to snow across P.E.I., with five to 10 centimetres forecast.

There is a 30 per cent chance of flurries for most of the Island Tuesday night with a 60 per cent chance of flurries in the East Point area.

Police cautioned drivers to slow down as the first snowfall spread across the Island.

It started snowing in West Prince in the early morning hours, with the rain turning to wet snow in the Charlottetown area a little before 9 a.m.

That created messy driving conditions on this second official day of winter.

"Since 5:30 this morning, there have been 13 calls for single-vehicle collisions," said RCMP Const. Jamie Parsons.

Officers on patrol were finding vehicles in the ditch, he added, meaning the number of incidents could be even higher.

"I myself was on patrol and came across two where the people had already called tows on their own, but no damage — just slid off the road. So those wouldn't be included in those 13 calls for service," Parsons said.

Early in the day, a number of vehicles slid off the road on Route 225 in the Kingston and Hunter River areas, as snow and slush accumulated on the highway.

There were no serious injuries in any of the accidents Parsons heard of — although some vehicles flipped onto their roofs.

RCMP had to temporarily close Route 1 from Borden-Carleton to Summerside, and Route 1 from Summerside to Charlottetown, at what is commonly refereed to as the Albany Y. That section of road has since been reopened.

"It usually takes two or three snowfalls for people to get the hang of winter driving," Parsons said. "People aren't adjusted to the winter driving and are still driving as if they're driving on dry roads. So what we ask is for people to slow down and drive for the conditions."

Just after 10 a.m., Radio-Canada's Julien Lecacheur came across the aftermath of a crash outside Crapaud with two trucks in the ditch, one badly damaged. RCMP confirmed there were no injuries.

Plow dispatchers said some roads were snow-covered and slushy Tuesday afternoon. Equipment was out on both main and secondary roads.

Meanwhile, Maritime Electric dealt with at least two large power outages as the winds picked up force.

Early in the morning, between 6 and 6:30 a.m., a pole fire knocked out electricity to 1,200 customers in Queens County.

That power was restored by 8:30 a.m.

The power then went out in much of West Prince with 7,230 customers out at one point. 

Power was restored province wide.

There is no word yet on the cause of the second outage.

A third power outage happened Tuesday evening.

Around 7:30 p.m. the Maritime Electric outage map showed 581 customers in the Miminegash area without power.

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