West Bay road is seen after flood waters washed out a culvert beside Lakeside Luxury Domes, in Saint George's Channel, N.S., on Saturday.Steve Wadden/The Canadian Press
Authorities are warning against unnecessary travel in northeastern Nova Scotia due to widespread flooding caused by torrential rainfall.
The province’s Department of Emergency Management said Saturday afternoon that heavy rain damaged dozens of roads in Cape Breton Island and the Eastern Mainland.
“Your best route right now might be no route at all,” the department said in warnings posted to social media.
🚨 Driving in flood water is not worth the risk.
— Nova Scotia Emergency Management (@NSEmergency) September 5, 2026
If you see water covering a road, do not try to drive through it.
Even a small amount of water can make driving dangerous, and you may not be able to see what’s underneath the surface.
Remember:
➡️ Never drive through a flooded… pic.twitter.com/hD2mC1PQmZ
It also warned that conditions can change quickly and drivers should turn back if they come across a submerged street.
Cape Breton Regional Municipality reported several roads in the Sydney and Glace Bay areas were closed due to flooding.
Nova Scotia’s provincial road conditions map showed at least 13 road closures across the Island and nearby mainland.
A slow-moving weather system brought heavy downpours and thunderstorms to Nova Scotia’s northeast region on Friday, with over 200 millimetres of rain recorded in some areas on Saturday morning.
Several videos posted to social media from the region on Saturday showed water rushing over roadways and breaking through barriers. Residents in Sydney were also recorded paddling down flooded streets in kayaks.
Interesting weekend to be in Cape Breton; lots of flooding in River Bourgeois after 150-200+ mm of rain. Washouts and road closures in serval locations. #nsstorm
— Rodney Barney (@rcbstormpost) September 5, 2026
Some of this en route to #nlwx (though will lose a good bit of its punch). pic.twitter.com/qaKI2q14PM
Environment and Climate Change Canada issued an orange alert level rainfall warning for all of Cape Breton early Saturday morning. It warned of rainfall rates of up to 20 millimetres an hour in some areas.
Nova Scotia Power reported nearly 40,000 customers were without power on Saturday afternoon. The private utility company listed high winds and rain as the reason for most of the outages in Cape Breton.
The national weather service also issued yellow rainfall alerts for large areas of northern Nova Scotia and all of Prince Edward Island.
The alerts say the rain isn’t expected to let up until Monday morning.
The ferry service between Wood Islands, P.E.I., and Caribou, N.S., was cancelled for Saturday due to high winds, Northumberland Ferries Ltd. said.
Nova Scotia RCMP said Saturday afternoon they were unaware of any deaths related to the flooding.