Fiona swept across Canada’s east coast with hurricane force after hitting Nova Scotia on Saturday with strong winds and storms, leaving thousands without power and collapsing some coastal homes.
Now a post-tropical cyclone, Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 112 km as it continued to slowly weaken, according to the US National Hurricane Center. But Canadian officials have warned that it remains a dangerous storm and the threats are not over.
Its center was about 130 kilometers northwest of the coastal town of Channel-Port aux Basques, where the storm left a trail of devastation. Some coastal homes in the area collapsed and some toppled structures fell into the sea or were surrounded by floodwaters, photos sent from the province on Saturday morning showed.
In Channel-Port aux Basques, houses were washed away, Mayor Brian Button said in a Facebook video Saturday morning. Dangerous storms – ocean water pushed onto land – were expected in parts of Atlantic Canada, accompanied by “large and destructive waves”, meteorologists said on Saturday.
Provincial authorities declared a state of emergency for the city amid “multiple electrical fires, residential flooding and flooding”.
René Roy, editor-in-chief of Wreckhouse Press, a local publication, described a scene of carnage in the storm: trees uprooted, at least eight nearby houses disappeared in the aftermath of a violent storm, cabins floating, a boat carried by floodwaters to the middle of a local playground.
“I lived through Hurricane Juan and that was a foggy day compared to this monster,” Roy, 50, told CNN . Hurricane Juan made landfall in Canada as a Category 2 storm in 2003, knocking down power lines and trees and leaving extensive damage behind. “It’s surreal what’s happening here,” she added.
Roy further stated that he left his home and stayed with a cousin on higher ground. He had no idea Saturday night if his house was still standing. However, emergency personnel prevented him from driving to check. It wasn’t safe to do so, they warned.
Photos by another resident of the area, Terry Osmond, showed a collapsed building in Channel-Port aux Basques surrounded by seawater off the coast, and splintered wood and other debris littered the city.
“Never in my life has there been so much destruction in our area,” Osmond, 62, wrote to CNN .
A woman in the city was rescued from the water Saturday afternoon after her home collapsed, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. She was taken to the hospital, however the extent of her injuries was not revealed.
Several buildings were destroyed in the coastal community of Burnt Islands, Newfoundland, according to a video posted on social media. Houses, or parts of them, collapsed, and their debris scattered across the ground and seawater.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that the government was assessing damage from the storm, but officials have already begun helping affected communities, including approving Nova Scotia’s request for federal assistance. The Canadian Armed Forces will also be deployed to the region to assist with damage assessment and cleanup.
Devastation is ‘breathtaking’, says mayor
Meanwhile, more than 400,000 Canadians were left in the dark on Saturday night, including more than 290,000 people without power in Nova Scotia and more than 85,000 on Prince Edward Island, according to the website Poweroutage.com.
Restoring power was among the authorities’ top priorities, Nova Scotia Prime Minister Tim Houston said during a news conference, describing “shocking” damage across the province, including communities whose roads were destroyed and power lines were taken down. .
But weather conditions were still too severe in many areas Saturday night for teams to begin assessing and repairing damage, said Nova Scotia Power President and CEO Peter Gregg. More than 900 power technicians were on their way to the area, but with parts of the province still experiencing stormy conditions, Gregg added that some customers could experience power outages for several days.
Storm Canada as a powerful post-tropical cyclone over eastern Nova Scotia, between Canso and Guysborough, crossed the province’s Cape Breton Island. Authorities in the Cape Breton area declared an emergency and asked people to take shelter there.
On Saturday night, Cape Breton Regional Council revealed that ongoing telecommunications issues pose challenges and urged residents to remain in safe shelters as the roads were littered with fallen trees and power lines and were unsafe to travel. Emergency teams are working to help those who have been harmed.
To the west, in Nova Scotia’s capital Halifax, the roof of an apartment complex collapsed, forcing about 100 people to flee to a shelter, Mayor Mike Savage exposed CNN on Saturday.
“The magnitude of this storm was breathtaking,” Savage said. “It turned out to be all predicted,” he continued.
Officials in Halifax said strong winds and risks of coastal flooding remained for the rest of the day and urged residents to stay off the roads while cleanup efforts are underway.
In Charlottetown, capital of Prince Edward Island, police tweeted photos of damage, including a collapsed roof of a house.
“Conditions are like nothing we’ve ever seen,” Charlottetown Police tweeted early Saturday.
what could be next
As of Saturday night, Hurricane Fiona continued to impact parts of Canada and eastern Quebec with strong winds and damaging storm surges, but conditions were expected to improve in Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island and later in Îles-de- la-Madeleine and southwest Newfoundland.
“There may also be some coastal flooding in the St. Lawrence and on the north coast of Quebec,” the Hurricane Center said.
Gale-force and storm-force winds are expected to continue in parts of Canada through early Sunday.
On Saturday morning, hurricane-force gusts were reported, generally ranging from 110km/h to 150km/h. A maximum mid-morning gust was 179 km/h in Arisaig, Nova Scotia, according to Environment Canada.
Rainfall can total up to 254 millimeters in some places, and significant flooding is possible, meteorologists said.
The storm has already claimed the lives of at least five people and turned off power to millions as it hit islands in the Caribbean and Atlantic earlier this week.
Fiona was classified as a Category 4 storm early Wednesday over the Atlantic after passing the Turks and Caicos Islands and remained so until Friday afternoon, when it weakened as it approached Canada. .
It became post-tropical before it made landfall, meaning that instead of a hot core, the storm now had a cold core. This does not affect the storm’s ability to produce intense winds, rain, and thunderstorms, it just means that the internal mechanics of the storm have changed.
According to Chris Fogarty, manager of the Canadian Hurricane Center, Hurricane Fiona had the potential to become Canada’s version of superstorm Sandy. Before Fiona arrived, Sandy in 2012 affected 24 states and the entire East Coast, causing an estimated $78.7 billion in damage.
An unofficial barometric pressure of 931.6 mb was recorded Saturday at Hart Island, which would make Fiona the lowest pressure storm ever recorded in Canada.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
