TORONTO — Fiona washed houses into the ocean, tore the roofs off others and knocked out power to the overwhelming majority of two Canadian provinces because it made landfall before dawn Saturday as an enormous, powerful post-tropical cyclone.
Fiona transformed from a hurricane right into a post-tropical storm late Friday, but it surely still had hurricane-strength winds and brought drenching rains and large waves. There was no confirmation of fatalities or injuries.
Ocean waves pounded the town of Channel-Port Aux Basques on the southern coast of Newfoundland, where entire structures were washed into the ocean. Mayor Brian Button said Saturday over social media that individuals were being evacuated to high ground as winds knocked down power lines.
“I’m seeing homes within the ocean. I’m seeing rubble floating in every single place. It’s complete and utter destruction. There’s an apartment that’s gone,” René J. Roy, a resident of Channel-Port Aux Basques and chief editor at Wreckhouse Press, said in a phone interview.
Roy estimated between eight to 12 houses and buildings have washed into the ocean. “It’s quite terrifying,” he said.
Jolene Garland, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Newfoundland and Labrador, said a girl was secure and in “good health” after being “tossed into the water as her home collapsed” within the Channel-Port Aux Basques area. Garland said that a person who may need been swept away was still reported as missing and that prime winds were stopping an aerial search.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the town of 4,000 people was in a state of emergency as authorities handled multiple electrical fires and residential flooding.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau canceled his trip to Japan for the funeral for assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Trudeau said the federal government would deploy the Canadian Armed Forces to help.
“We’re seeing devastating images coming out of Port aux Basques. PEI (Prince Edward Island) has experienced storm damage like they’ve never seen. Cape Breton is being hit hard, too,” Trudeau said.
“Canadians are considering of all those affected by Hurricane Fiona, which is having devastating effects within the Atlantic provinces and eastern Quebec, particularly within the Magdalen Islands. There are individuals who see their houses destroyed, people who find themselves very apprehensive — we might be there for you.”
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said the roof of an apartment constructing collapsed they usually moved 100 people to an evacuation center. He said nobody was seriously hurt or killed. Provincial officials said there are other apartment buildings which are also significantly damaged. Halifax has about 160 people displaced from two apartments, officials said.
Greater than 415,000 Nova Scotia Power customers — about 80% of the province of virtually 1 million — were affected by outages Saturday morning. Over 82,000 customers within the province of Prince Edward Island, about 95%, were also without power, while NB Power in Recent Brunswick reported 44,329 were without electricity.
The Canadian Hurricane Centre tweeted early Saturday that Fiona had the bottom pressure ever recorded for a storm making landfall in Canada. Forecasters had warned it could possibly be the one of the powerful storms to hit the country.
“We’re getting more severe storms more ceaselessly,” Trudeau said Saturday.
He said more resilient infrastructure is required to have the ability withstand extreme weather events, saying a one in a 100-year storm might begin to hit every few years due to climate change.
“Things are only getting worse,” Trudeau said.
A state of local emergency was also declared by the mayor and council of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
“There are homes which were significantly damaged resulting from downed trees, big old trees falling down and causing significant damage. We’re also seeing houses that their roofs have completely torn off, windows breaking in. There is a big amount of debris within the roadways,” Amanda McDougall, mayor of Cape Breton Regional Municipality, told The Associated Press
“There may be numerous damage to belongings and structures but no injuries to people as of this point. Again we’re still within the midst of this,” she said. “It’s still terrifying. I’m just sitting here in my front room and it looks like the patio doors are going to interrupt in with those big gusts.”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said roads were washed out, including his own, and said an “incredible” amount of trees were down.
“It’s pretty devastating. The sad reality is the individuals who need information are unable to listen to it. Their phones aren’t working, they don’t have power or access to the web,” Houston said.
Peter Gregg, President and CEO of Nova Scotia Power, said unprecedented peak winds caused severe damage. “In lots of areas, weather conditions are still too dangerous for our crews to stand up in our bucket trucks,” Gregg said. He said about 380,000 customers remain without power as of Saturday afternoon.
Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King said they’d no reports of any significant injuries or deaths. But he said few communities were spared damage, with the devastation trying to be beyond anything they’d seen previously within the province. He said over 95% of islanders remained without power.
Federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair said there was very extensive damage on the airport in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He said other airports also were hit, but that damage on the Halifax facility, Nova Scotia’s largest airport, was minor.
Fiona had weakened to tropical storm strength late Saturday afternoon because it moved across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In its final report on Fiona, the U.S. hurricane center said it had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph). It was centered about 80 miles (130 kilomters) northwest of Port aux Basques and moving northeast at 8 mph (13 kph).
Tropical storm-force winds prolonged outward as much as 550 miles (890 kilometers).
Hurricanes in Canada are somewhat rare, partly because once the storms reach colder waters, they lose their primary source of energy. But post-tropical cyclones still can have hurricane-strength winds, although they’ve a chilly core and no visible eye. In addition they often lose their symmetric form and more resemble a comma.
In Sydney, Nova Scotia, the most important city in Cape Breton, about 20 people took refuge on the Centre 200 sports and entertainment facility, said Christina Lamey, a spokeswoman for the region. Lamey said there have been a whole bunch of individuals displaced within the province.
Arlene and Robert Grafilo fled to Centre 200 with their children, ages 3 and 10, after an enormous tree fell on their duplex apartment.
“We were trapped and we couldn’t open the doors and the windows, in order that’s after we decided to call 911,” Arlene Grafilo said. She said firefighters eventually rescued them.
Peter MacKay, a former foreign minister and defense minister who lives in Nova Scotia, said he and his family had an extended night and said the winds were still raging within the afternoon.
“We had put every part we could out of harm’s way, however the house got hammered pretty hard. Lost plenty of shingles, heavy water damage in ceilings, partitions, our deck is destroyed. A garage that I used to be constructing blew away,” MacKay said in an email to The Associated Press.
“Never seen anything prefer it. Lived through some crazy weather,” he added.
He called the pictures from Newfoundland heartbreaking.
Fiona up to now has been blamed for at the very least five deaths — two in Puerto Rico, two within the Dominican Republic and one within the French island of Guadeloupe.
Within the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Ian was predicted to rapidly strengthen in the approaching days. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it could move over western Cuba and toward the west coast of Florida or the Florida Panhandle by the center of next week.
Ian was centered about 230 miles (370 kilometers) south of Kingston, Jamaica, early Saturday evening. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and was moving west at 14 mph (22 kph). A hurricane watch was issued for the Cayman Islands.
TORONTO — Fiona washed houses into the ocean, tore the roofs off others and knocked out power to the overwhelming majority of two Canadian provinces because it made landfall before dawn Saturday as an enormous, powerful post-tropical cyclone.
Fiona transformed from a hurricane right into a post-tropical storm late Friday, but it surely still had hurricane-strength winds and brought drenching rains and large waves. There was no confirmation of fatalities or injuries.
Ocean waves pounded the town of Channel-Port Aux Basques on the southern coast of Newfoundland, where entire structures were washed into the ocean. Mayor Brian Button said Saturday over social media that individuals were being evacuated to high ground as winds knocked down power lines.
“I’m seeing homes within the ocean. I’m seeing rubble floating in every single place. It’s complete and utter destruction. There’s an apartment that’s gone,” René J. Roy, a resident of Channel-Port Aux Basques and chief editor at Wreckhouse Press, said in a phone interview.
Roy estimated between eight to 12 houses and buildings have washed into the ocean. “It’s quite terrifying,” he said.
Jolene Garland, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Newfoundland and Labrador, said a girl was secure and in “good health” after being “tossed into the water as her home collapsed” within the Channel-Port Aux Basques area. Garland said that a person who may need been swept away was still reported as missing and that prime winds were stopping an aerial search.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the town of 4,000 people was in a state of emergency as authorities handled multiple electrical fires and residential flooding.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau canceled his trip to Japan for the funeral for assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Trudeau said the federal government would deploy the Canadian Armed Forces to help.
“We’re seeing devastating images coming out of Port aux Basques. PEI (Prince Edward Island) has experienced storm damage like they’ve never seen. Cape Breton is being hit hard, too,” Trudeau said.
“Canadians are considering of all those affected by Hurricane Fiona, which is having devastating effects within the Atlantic provinces and eastern Quebec, particularly within the Magdalen Islands. There are individuals who see their houses destroyed, people who find themselves very apprehensive — we might be there for you.”
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said the roof of an apartment constructing collapsed they usually moved 100 people to an evacuation center. He said nobody was seriously hurt or killed. Provincial officials said there are other apartment buildings which are also significantly damaged. Halifax has about 160 people displaced from two apartments, officials said.
Greater than 415,000 Nova Scotia Power customers — about 80% of the province of virtually 1 million — were affected by outages Saturday morning. Over 82,000 customers within the province of Prince Edward Island, about 95%, were also without power, while NB Power in Recent Brunswick reported 44,329 were without electricity.
The Canadian Hurricane Centre tweeted early Saturday that Fiona had the bottom pressure ever recorded for a storm making landfall in Canada. Forecasters had warned it could possibly be the one of the powerful storms to hit the country.
“We’re getting more severe storms more ceaselessly,” Trudeau said Saturday.
He said more resilient infrastructure is required to have the ability withstand extreme weather events, saying a one in a 100-year storm might begin to hit every few years due to climate change.
“Things are only getting worse,” Trudeau said.
A state of local emergency was also declared by the mayor and council of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
“There are homes which were significantly damaged resulting from downed trees, big old trees falling down and causing significant damage. We’re also seeing houses that their roofs have completely torn off, windows breaking in. There is a big amount of debris within the roadways,” Amanda McDougall, mayor of Cape Breton Regional Municipality, told The Associated Press
“There may be numerous damage to belongings and structures but no injuries to people as of this point. Again we’re still within the midst of this,” she said. “It’s still terrifying. I’m just sitting here in my front room and it looks like the patio doors are going to interrupt in with those big gusts.”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said roads were washed out, including his own, and said an “incredible” amount of trees were down.
“It’s pretty devastating. The sad reality is the individuals who need information are unable to listen to it. Their phones aren’t working, they don’t have power or access to the web,” Houston said.
Peter Gregg, President and CEO of Nova Scotia Power, said unprecedented peak winds caused severe damage. “In lots of areas, weather conditions are still too dangerous for our crews to stand up in our bucket trucks,” Gregg said. He said about 380,000 customers remain without power as of Saturday afternoon.
Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King said they’d no reports of any significant injuries or deaths. But he said few communities were spared damage, with the devastation trying to be beyond anything they’d seen previously within the province. He said over 95% of islanders remained without power.
Federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair said there was very extensive damage on the airport in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He said other airports also were hit, but that damage on the Halifax facility, Nova Scotia’s largest airport, was minor.
Fiona had weakened to tropical storm strength late Saturday afternoon because it moved across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In its final report on Fiona, the U.S. hurricane center said it had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph). It was centered about 80 miles (130 kilomters) northwest of Port aux Basques and moving northeast at 8 mph (13 kph).
Tropical storm-force winds prolonged outward as much as 550 miles (890 kilometers).
Hurricanes in Canada are somewhat rare, partly because once the storms reach colder waters, they lose their primary source of energy. But post-tropical cyclones still can have hurricane-strength winds, although they’ve a chilly core and no visible eye. In addition they often lose their symmetric form and more resemble a comma.
In Sydney, Nova Scotia, the most important city in Cape Breton, about 20 people took refuge on the Centre 200 sports and entertainment facility, said Christina Lamey, a spokeswoman for the region. Lamey said there have been a whole bunch of individuals displaced within the province.
Arlene and Robert Grafilo fled to Centre 200 with their children, ages 3 and 10, after an enormous tree fell on their duplex apartment.
“We were trapped and we couldn’t open the doors and the windows, in order that’s after we decided to call 911,” Arlene Grafilo said. She said firefighters eventually rescued them.
Peter MacKay, a former foreign minister and defense minister who lives in Nova Scotia, said he and his family had an extended night and said the winds were still raging within the afternoon.
“We had put every part we could out of harm’s way, however the house got hammered pretty hard. Lost plenty of shingles, heavy water damage in ceilings, partitions, our deck is destroyed. A garage that I used to be constructing blew away,” MacKay said in an email to The Associated Press.
“Never seen anything prefer it. Lived through some crazy weather,” he added.
He called the pictures from Newfoundland heartbreaking.
Fiona up to now has been blamed for at the very least five deaths — two in Puerto Rico, two within the Dominican Republic and one within the French island of Guadeloupe.
Within the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Ian was predicted to rapidly strengthen in the approaching days. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it could move over western Cuba and toward the west coast of Florida or the Florida Panhandle by the center of next week.
Ian was centered about 230 miles (370 kilometers) south of Kingston, Jamaica, early Saturday evening. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and was moving west at 14 mph (22 kph). A hurricane watch was issued for the Cayman Islands.
