More than 72,000 homes, businesses without power after widespread rain, wind

More than 72,000 homes and businesses are without power in Nova Scotia Thursday morning after widespread rain and wind overnight.

Most outages are being reported in the northern region of the province, many of which are along the North Shore, according to Nova Scotia Power's outage map.

The utility says the outages were caused by high winds and rain, and people can expect their electricity to return by this afternoon or this evening.

Rain and wind warnings are still in effect for northern and eastern areas of the province as of 8 a.m. AT, according to Environment Canada.

CBC's meteorologist Tina Simpkin says the high winds and rain will start to taper off this afternoon.

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