Tens of thousands of Nova Scotians remained without power Sunday in the wake of damage from hurricane Earl.

Nova Scotia Power reported continuing outages across much of the province, including the metro Halifax area, caused by high winds and trees that had crashed into power lines.

As the day began, repair crews worked to restore service to roughly 90,000 customers. The number dropped to about 65,000 by early afternoon.

The storm packing gusts of up to 130 kilometres an hour roared through the province on Saturday after making landfall on the southern coastline.

More than 200,000 Nova Scotia Power customers had no electricity at the height of the outages on Saturday afternoon.

Utility spokeswoman Stacey Pineau said there were about 500 employees working to restore service.

"We are looking at the majority of our customers being back on today (Sunday), but there will be some customers in certain situations who will be into tomorrow (Monday) before they get their power back on," said Ms. Pineau.

"As for the nature of the damage, for the most part, we're looking at just clearing away trees and getting to damage that in some cases might be a little bit more remote and take us a little bit longer to deal with."

Ms. Pineau estimated a couple of thousand customers could be waiting until Monday for their power.

NB Power sent 18 crews to Nova Scotia on Sunday to help restore service.

Some repair work in Cape Breton proved to be dangerous.

A Nova Scotia Power lineman was sent to hospital Saturday evening after getting a shock. He was working in a bucket in the Sydney area when he got tangled up in live wires in high winds.

"That person received immediate medical attention," said Ms. Pineau. "That person is fine. They're expected, actually, to be back out to work today (Sunday)."

Earl was blamed for one death - a man who drowned not far from Halifax while swimming to shore from a boat on Saturday.

The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm after making landfall and quickly moved through the Atlantic region.

Rainfall amounts ranged from about 30 to 70 millimetres.

The storm, fuelled in part by air and sea temperatures warmer than normal, churned up powerful surf along shorelines.

Numerous flights were cancelled at several airports, including those in Halifax and Moncton, N.B. The winds also led to travel restrictions on the Confederation Bridge linking New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The remnants of Earl also brought down trees and some power lines in western Newfoundland before leaving the region.

The Mounties continued to encourage people to avoid unnecessary travel in Nova Scotia on Sunday, with storm debris including broken trees and downed power lines creating potentially hazardous driving conditions.

"This will allow the cleanup efforts to be completed in a safe and timely fashion," said an RCMP news release.

On Saturday, people were also warned to stay clear of the powerful waves pounding the Nova Scotia coastline.

In Mahone Bay, N.S., on the south shore, several boats moored in the picturesque harbour were pulled from their mooring as the storm blew through.

Three, including two power boats and a houseboat, were pulled up on the rocks.

"The mooring got all tied up with the anchor and it (the wind) dragged it all the way down the harbour to the far end and it (the boat) got tied up with the rocks," said Mike Lee, who owns one of the power boats.

Meanwhile, across the street from the local marina, a crew in a bucket truck worked to remove a massive 120-year-old spruce tree that snapped and fell next to a home owned by Norman Whynot.

"We were watching all the action on the harbour and we heard a crack and the tree severed off and narrowly missed major power lines," said Mr. Whynot.

On the Halifax boardwalk Saturday, university student Corbin McLean stood huddled under the roof of a closed pastry takeout, watching the whitecaps in the churning harbour.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Mr. McLean, 20. "They were trying to say it wasn't going to be that big of a storm, but I think it's pretty ridiculous right now. The waves are huge, blowing everything around. It's crazy."