By Stefanie Kranjec TORONTO, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Some 30,000 residents across Nova Scotia were still without power by midday on Monday, a day after the remnants of Hurricane Noel battered the eastern Canadian province, ripping up trees, damaging buildings and washing out roads. The storm, classified as a post-tropical storm, produced winds of over 100 km/h (60 mph) -- with gusts that reached up to 135 km/h (80 mph) in some areas -- and dropped up to 75 mm of rain on parts of the province early on Sunday. But the face of the storm that devastated parts of the Caribbean and then swept up the U.S. Atlantic coast was very different once it arrived in Eastern Canada. While no deaths were reported in Canada as a result of Noel, at least 73 people died in the Dominican Republic with many of them swept away by muddy floodwaters after rivers burst their banks. The deadliest storm of 2007, Noel killed at least 120 people throughout the Caribbean and left tens of thousands homeless. In Canada, residents faced widespread power outages, washed out roads and streets littered with debris. But most were relieved Noel did not repeat the damage of Juan, a smaller but more intense storm that hit the province in September 2003. Nova Scotia Power <EMA.TO> spokesperson Stacey Pineau said the utility expected to cut the number of people without power to under 15,000, or better, by the end of the day. The utility reported more than 230 power line and tree clearing crews headed out on Monday morning to help restore electricity for some 28 communities. Help arrived throughout the night from Maine and Quebec Hydro, boosting the number of crews that were able to head out. "We regret that damage caused by Tropical Storm Noel is forcing our customers to go without power, but our restoration plan has made solid progress over the last 24 hours and we will have 90 percent of those who experienced outages restored by the end of the day." said Dan Muldoon, Nova Scotia Power spokesman. In neighboring New Brunswick, New Brunswick Power was showing 10 outages affecting 80 people by midday, but it was unclear if these interruptions are due solely to the weekend's storm. Nearly all flights in or out of Halifax's Robert L. Stanfield International Airport were reported on schedule on Monday, a far cry from the mass cancellation of almost all flights arriving or departing Nova Scotia's main airport on Saturday evening. Bill Lawlor, regional director of disaster management for the Red Cross said that preparedness for Noel was "significantly improved at all levels" since Juan, which killed six people in Nova Scotia. "People really heeded the warning from the Canadian Hurricane Centre. We certainly hope it doesn't make people complacent for the next potential storm. Because it didn't happen this time, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when we'll be faced with another one here in Atlantic Canada." he said. (Reporting by Stefanie Kranjec, editing by Rob Wilson)
