The wrath of Fiona reached Atlantic Canada on Friday, causing major structural damage to communities.
The wrath of Fiona reached Atlantic Canada on Friday, causing major structural damage to communities.
The wrath of Fiona reached Atlantic Canada on Friday, causing major structural damage to communities and forcing over half a million power outages across the region. As of Saturday, Fiona is living up to its AccuWeather forecast as one of the strongest storms on record to impact the easternmost portions of Canada.
After bombarding Prince Edward Island, eastern Nova Scotia, western Newfoundland and southeastern Labrador on Friday, Fiona turned its attention to southwestern Newfoundland Saturday. Early Saturday morning, at least one building washed away due to the storm in Port aux Basques, and several others were damaged by tides approaching residences in the area. Some residents fled parts of the community impacted by flooding while washed-out roads cut off the town completely from certain sectors.
The storm took the path to Atlantic Canada after stops in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos and other parts of the Caribbean.
A scary scene in the Port aux Basques community unfolded Saturday morning, as residents could see what appeared to be a large quantity of gasoline on the streets.
All low-lying and waterfront streets were under mandatory evacuation as of 8 a.m. EDT Saturday in Port aux Basques, as issued by the local fire department.
In an interview on Saturday morning with CBC Radio One, Port aux Basques town manager Leon MacIsaac stated that he had previously warned locals about Fiona’s potential impacts on the community.
“Due to the most recent forecast and likelihood that the sea is going to be much higher than we originally anticipated, we thought it would be prudent to contact as many residents as we could near the south-facing coast,” MacIsaac said.
In Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and Victoria County declared a state of local emergency Saturday morning, with officials asking residents to shelter in place. Multiple roads in the vicinity were deemed impassable after Fiona’s landfall, and emergency crews have been out responding to those who either lost their roof or had trees collide with houses.
Rampant power outages were triggered due to Fiona’s landfall, with nearly 400,000 residents of Nova Scotia without power as of Saturday afternoon, which is roughly 80 percent of the province’s population. The outages also reached more than 82,000 for Prince Edward Island, while neighboring New Brunswick had more than 44,000 without power Saturday afternoon.
Early Saturday morning, Fiona finally made landfall along Nova Scotia’s Canso Peninsula with sustained winds up to 100 mph, the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane. As of 2 p.m. EDT Saturday, Fiona continued to move northward at a brisk pace with a forward speed of 25 mph. Although Fiona remained non-tropical, it continued to pack sustained wind speeds of 75 mph (120 km/h).
Some of the highest wind gusts in Atlantic Canada thus far were noted in Arisaig, Nova Scotia (111 mph); Grand Etang Harbour, Nova Scotia (104 mph); and Wreckhouse, Nova Scotia (103 mph). The winds extended outward about 115 miles (185 km) from the center of the storm, and tropical-storm-force winds extended 405 miles (605 km).
An unconfirmed report from Hart Island, Nova Scotia, recorded the lowest air pressure in Canadian history. If confirmed, this report would certainly be momentous and would show how unusually powerful Fiona managed to become. The National Weather Service’s Ocean Prediction Center pegged Fiona near landfall at 933 millibars, which would break the all-time pressure record in Canada of 940.2 millibars.
Produced in association with AccuWeather.
