Whurricane Fiona has wreaked havoc in eastern Canada and cut off around 500,000 households from electricity. Heavy rain and hurricane-force gusts of wind on Saturday uprooted trees, washed houses into the sea and damaged power lines. In the province of Newfoundland, according to police, two women were torn into the sea by the storm. One of them was saved, the second was still missing.
The Channel-Port aux Basques site offers a picture of “total devastation,” Mayor Brian Button told CBC News. “It’s gotten bigger and worse than we imagined.” A local resident reported, “These are the strongest winds anyone in this community has ever seen. Several houses have been washed into the sea,” reported resident René Roy.
Wind speeds of up to 130 kilometers per hour
Although “Fiona” was downgraded from a hurricane to a so-called post-tropical cyclone, it still brought winds of up to 130 kilometers per hour, according to meteorologists. In the morning she hit the coast of the eastern province of Nova Scotia, according to the US hurricane center NHC.
The authorities in Nova Scotia had warned, among other things, of power outages. People in the affected coastal areas should stock up so that they can stay indoors for at least 72 hours. And indeed, according to the energy supplier Nova Scotia Power, 384,000 households in the province of Nova Scotia were cut off from the electricity supply, in the provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island there were 32,000 and around 82,000 households respectively.
In the city of North Sydney in Nova Scotia, trees fell on houses and cars, and several buildings collapsed, local fire chief Lloyd MacIntosh told CBC. “It will take time for Nova Scotia to recover. I ask everyone to be patient,” provincial chief Tim Houston said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised government help to the provinces and their residents. “I want you to know that we are here for you. Our government stands ready to support the provinces with additional funds,” he said on Twitter.
“Fiona” first made landfall in the US overseas territory of Puerto Rico on Sunday last week. The storm then also hit the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Bermuda Islands. A total of six deaths were reported, four in Puerto Rico, one in the Dominican Republic and another in the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe. The storm also cut off electricity and water supplies for scores of people.
