We had a wicked nor'easter over the weekend. In an unusual twist of fate, PEI actually escaped the worst of it compared to neighboring New Brunswick and Nova Scotia but we still had winds gusting well over 100km/h, up to 160 reported in some areas. Roofs were lost (a restaurant on the tip of the Island was totally decapitated) and the combination of wind and high tides from the full moon did major flood damage in areas. Wharves were totally submerged or buried in ice and the tide even crept up some of the lower streets in the city of Charlottetown.
Again, in an unusual pattern, the North shore was actually hit less hard than the South so I had high winds but more rain than snow. Definitely not as serious as some. One effect though was that every now and then, when an unusually wind is just the right direction, salt spray flies over the bank down the road and lands on the utility poles probably 200 to 300 meters away. It builds up on the transformers and they start to spark like fireworks. It's actually rare that they blow from this but it looks like the pole could go on fire from the sparks.
Your first clue is that the lights start to regularly dim and flicker but the power doesn't go out, which is normally the next step. It just flickers and dims for hours until it subsides or something blows. I started unplugging things immediately, starting with the computer I was using, but by the time I got to the HT stuff, the EP500 was making a regular loud tapping noise. I unplugged it immediately without waiting to trying to identify it further.
It was a loud, slightly electronic, slightly physical, sounding tap. That's the best way I can describe it. It wasn't a thud anywhere near the LFE scale and it wasn't a click either. It was something well in between.
Everything stayed unplugged until morning and I resigned myself to read a book with a camping headlamp on to deter the annoying effects of the constantly dimming lights.
The next morning everything in the house was fine when I plugged it back in, including the sub. Although the PC did scare me with it's failure at a 'self repair' when it booted. Another reboot was enough to clear it's worries though. It just panicked the first time.
I came out lucky. There was a lot house damaged across the Maritimes from the wind and flooding. At least two lives lost. One rather unpleasantly as as whiteouts and the noise of the wind allowed a lady to walk smack into some heavy snow removal equipement operating outside her apartment building. My condolences to her family and friends.
