Thousands are without power as high winds and rain hit the Port Hawsbury and Cape Breton areas of the province Saturday evening.

The hardest hit areas so far according to the Nova Scotia Power outage map is between Antigonish and Harve Boucher with nearly 1,700 in the dark. In the Margaree Valley, close to 900 are without power.

The utility says the estimated restoration time at this point, is early Sunday morning.