Heavy rain fell in the Halifax area on Friday afternoon, draining more than 200 millimeters of water in the Hammonds Plains, Bedford and Lower Sackville areas. The port city typically receives around 100mm of rain in an average month.

Based on radar estimates and unofficial observations, Environment Canada estimated that some areas may have received as much as 300mm of rain in a 24-hour period.

The whole thing caused significant damage in several places. Extensive flooding was reported in Lunenberg County west of the Halifax area, while flooding damaged many roads in the Hammonds Plains area northwest of the city.

“Obviously, a lot of people are affected, whether it’s damaged homes, people whose safety is at risk, or even thousands of people who are without power,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted on the sidelines of an event in the Toronto-area.

“With the ongoing rains, it’s important to listen to the local authorities who are keeping people safe. At the federal level, we are directly involved with our partners at the state level. We know that there is still a lot to do together and we will be there,” he promised.

Meanwhile, residents of the Halifax area have been warned not to drive on the roads, including several major freeways in the area. There are already more than 30 roadblocks, mostly north and west of Halifax.

Rainfall warnings remain in place for central and eastern Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton. 40 to 100 mm of rain is expected by Saturday evening.

“There may be intermittent rain during this episode, but intermittent torrential downpours and some overlapping thunderstorms could cause much larger rainfall in places,” Environment Canada said.

An evacuation order had previously been issued for people living near the St. Croix River in central Nova Scotia, where a dam was threatening to collapse. The notice was later lifted as the storm moved on.

In some areas, the flooded streets remained littered with abandoned vehicles as of Saturday afternoon. Halifax RCMP said residents should not leave their homes unless it was an emergency.

Dozens of images shared on social media showed cars driving through deep water. And video from the Windsor Junction area, north of Halifax, showed firefighters standing on the roof of their submerged truck.

At the height of the crisis, more than 70,000 homes and businesses in Nova Scotia were without power, prompting Nova Scotia Power to open its emergency call center at 5 a.m. Saturday morning.

Two emergency centers for disaster victims were opened in the Halifax area on Friday evening. Beaver Bank Community Center and East Dartmouth Community Center will remain open until further notice.