Damaging winds accompany rain
Federal weather service issues warnings about heavy rainfall, powerful winds
The federal weather service has issued a heavy rainfall alert for Monday for most of New Brunswick, and that includes Fredericton and surrounding communities.
And in a new development early Monday, it also warned of powerful winds with the potential to cause damage to homes and to interrupt utilities.
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s weather service issued a rainfall warning Sunday morning for Monday for the province.
“Heavy rain is expected,” it said. “The frozen ground has a reduced ability to absorb this rainfall.”
For Fredericton, the weather service called for a chance of showers throughout the day Sunday, but by 7 p.m. Sunday night, that changes to a 100 per cent chance of rain, at times heavy.
Rainfall is expected to amount to 40 to 70 millimetres by Monday morning, but areas that see the heaviest rain will see the potential for even more, Environment and Climate Change Canada reported.
The rainfall is predicted to continue until Monday evening, it said.
“Strong winds and mild temperatures will accompany the rain, leading to significant snowmelt and runoff,” the alert stated, adding it’s likely to change to snow over parts of northwest New Brunswick before the precipitation ends Monday night.
“Heavy downpours can cause flash floods and water pooling on roads. Localized flooding in low-lying areas is possible.”
And in an additional weather alert issued just after 4:30 a.m. Monday, Environment and Climate Change Canada advised southern New Brunswick is facing a day of potentially damaging winds.
It called for maximum gusts of 80 to 100 kilometres per hour, beginning Monday afternoon and lasting into the evening.
“Damage to buildings, such as to roof shingles and windows, may occur,” the warning stated. “Utility outages may occur.”
The federal weather service is calling for temperatures as high as 13 C in Fredericton on Monday.
The New Emergency Measures Organization issued an advisory about the impending rainstorm through social media, and NB Power reported it’s monitoring the situation as well.
“We are currently monitoring the weather,” the provincial utility said on social media. “Crews are ready to respond, if outages occur.”
The Fredericton Independent can be reached at ftonindependent@gmail.com.