Irene leaves tens of thousands of people in N.B. without power

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New Brunswick was spared the worst, but the remnants of Hurricane Irene still left tens of thousands without power and offered a chance to test disaster preparations.

Downgraded to a post-tropical storm before arriving in eastern Canada, Irene brought heavy rains and gusts topping 100 kilometres per hour. The worst of the precipitation arrived on Sunday, followed on Monday by powerful winds across the Maritimes.

"It was a good opportunity to dust off procedures, plans and protocols, to test equipment and make sure that it was working properly," Andy Morton, director of New Brunswick's Emergency Measures Organization said of the storm, which started as a powerful hurricane that killed at least 40 people in the United States before hitting Quebec and the Maritimes.

Quebec provincial police were searching on Monday for a man who disappeared after a landslide on a chunk of roadway that had been pummelled by the storm swallowed two cars northeast of Montreal.

Mr. Morton said that the storm knocked out power even at the EMO's operations centre in Fredericton. The emergency generator kicked in and ran for almost 11 hours before the electricity came back on there at midday on Monday. Most people were less prepared and waited through the day as continuing winds and manpower shortages slowed NB Power's efforts to re-connect customers across the province.

Emergency officials say that people should be equipped for up to three days without power. And they pleaded on the weekend for the public to take seriously the threat poised by Irene.

"It's important that we take these opportunities to ensure that we are prepared. Had that hurricane [changed course]we could've had much more damage and we could've had casualties," Mr. Morton said after the storm had passed.

"The impact of not being prepared is far more than the impact of being prepared and not needing it."

But getting that message across can be a challenge – particularly as the past few hurricanes to reach the Maritimes have received great advance publicity but weakened before landing. Memories are fading of the damage done by Hurricane Juan in 2003.

As Irene approached, one man in southwestern New Brunswick dismissed fears, saying that only "the people who are worried about this sort of thing are concerned."

Police in Saint John had to bar the public from parts of the nearby shoreline on Monday as huge waves built up during high tide. The city had warned that some of these spots could experience a storm surge, but a steady stream of spectators still showed up at one Sunday evening to watch the swells roll in while kite surfers and a windsurfer enjoyed the gusts.

And at Peggy's Cove, near Halifax, a man and his daughter had to scramble to safety on Sunday afternoon when they misjudged a wave.

"I honestly thought he was gone," photographer Mike Dembeck, who captured the near-escape at Peggy's Cove for The Canadian Press, wrote in a text message. "When the wave hit, he disappeared."

Chris Fogarty, a meteorologist with the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Dartmouth, said it is a balancing act to inform people of the dangers from storms without sounding alarmist should they underwhelm. He said it is important to remember that forecasting is inherently imprecise and urged people to listen carefully to the language used in the warnings.

"Is the forecast wording becoming more dire and focused or is that risk becoming lower? That trend is important," he said.

Mr. Fogarty said the centre strives to keep its language consistent across storms so that the public can learn what specific descriptions indicate. And he believes the message to take storms seriously is sinking in. He pointed as an example to the aftermath of Hurricane Bill, which passed offshore Nova Scotia in 2009.

"The storm did not hit us, but with Hurricane Earl last year, I found people did take precautions," he said.

With a report from Canadian Press