One of the worst winter storms to ever visit the Maritimes has dropped what meteorologists are calling a "weather bomb," hammering the region with heavy snow and fierce winds that have brought life to a frigid standstill.

The sudden explosion of winter's fury forced Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia to declare states of emergency.

Nova Scotia declared its first-ever provincewide state of emergency Thursday morning as the blizzard, which is expected to continue through to Friday, picked up intensity and covered the province in snow.

Not even the devastation of hurricane Juan 4 months ago prompted the so-called "Code Black."

P.E.I. followed suit later in the day, warning coastal residents of the potential for flooding tonight as a storm surge hits the Northumberland shore.

The states of emergency mean that non-essential workers were told to stay home, and police were given the power to pull all vehicles off the roads.

"My message to the people of Nova Scotia is: Stay home, stay safe and stay warm," Ernie Fage, N.S. Energy Measures Minister told ATV News.

"This is an extremely intense winter storm, blizzard conditions, high winds, and it's to be respected."

In Springfield, N.S., a woman who went into labour had to be picked up by a snowplow and taken to a waiting ambulance that had just been pulled from a snowbank. Two other snowplows led the way to the hospital.

In an unprecedented move, snow plow operators were ordered off the road in Nova Scotia's Queens and Lunenburg counties because of zero visibility.

"It's the first time that I've been here in six years that we've had to do that," Aubrey Martell, area manager for the Department of Transportation, told The Canadian Press.

"If we're not out there trying to keep the roads open, then nobody should be out there," he said.

And in the province's capital, Halifax, close to 90 centimetres of snow had fallen in parts by Thursday evening, smashing a 60-year record single-day snowfall record.

Another five to 10 centimetres remained looming in the forecast.

Wind gusts as high as 100 kilometres per hour are leaving roads undriveable and knocking down power lines.

Thousands of people are now without power. As many as 12,000 customers have been affected in P.E.I., as a main transmission line was damaged by high winds. Nova Scotia Power says 2,000 customers are off-line there as well.

The entire Atlantic region has been affected, with schools closed across Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and parts of New Brunswick.

Minor flooding was reported in the coastal New Brunswick communities of Cocagne, Point-de-Chene and Grande-Digue -- the deluge a result of the storm surge pushing high tidal waters ashore.

That's led Environment Canada to issue storm surge warnings for low-lying areas of the Bay of Fundy coast and the Northumberland Strait.

Another complication is that many trees damaged by Hurricane Juan last September may also come down on power lines during the storm. That hurricane left 300,000 people without power.

Environment Canada says the storm is called a weather bomb -- a rapidly intensifying low pressure system.

While the system is fairly common on the East Coast, meteorologist Darren Borgel says this one is different because of its track and the way it has increased precipitation.