The lights are back on for most of the thousands of homes and businesses in eastern Nova Scotia that lost power in Thursday's windstorm.

Nova Scotia Power said more than 3,000 customers — mostly in Cape Breton — had no electricity as of 8 a.m. Friday. Most were reconnected by 2 p.m.

Several schools were closed for the day, including Cape Smokey Elementary, North Highland Elementary, Cabot Junior and Senior High, and Pleasant Bay School.

High winds battered the province Thursday, with wind gusts topping 100 km/h. The storm damaged buildings and knocked down trees.

Cape Breton Regional Police closed Charlotte Street — the main shopping and commercial street in Sydney — due to flying debris from rooftops and construction sites.

Power poles down

Ten power poles were knocked over in the Table Head area of Glace Bay. A Nova Scotia Power worker told CBC News that nine of them would have to be replaced.

Danny Pimentel said there were about 15 to 20 workers repairing the poles.

He said it usually takes about two hours to replace a power pole, but he estimated the work should be done or nearly finished by the end of the day Friday.

"See that one exploded," said Pimentel, pointing to one of a row of poles along West Avenue that were leaning, suspended by the power lines or completely down on the ground.

"It had the strain on it and it finally exploded."

Wind warnings

There were wind warnings Thursday for all counties in Nova Scotia except Digby, Annapolis and Kings.

In Dartmouth, a section of Alderney Drive was closed to all traffic and pedestrians because of concern about falling debris from the Queen Square building.

Meteorologists described the storm as a weather bomb because of the sudden drop in barometric pressure.

CBC meteorologist Kalin Mitchell said officially the highest gust was 120 km/h at McNabs Island in Halifax harbour, though the data station at Beaver Island recorded a gust of 138 km/h.