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Fiona hits Atlanta Canada: Hundreds of thousands without power after storm rumbles north

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Fiona first wreaked havoc in the Caribbean as a hurricane before moving up the Atlantic and making landfall again as a post-tropical cyclone. The storm ripped a path of destruction in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland before weakening and moving out to sea Sunday.

Now, officials are beginning to account for the damage brought forth to the region.

Nova Scotia, where Fiona first made landfall during the early morning hours Saturday, was hit hard by the storm. Powerful winds toppled trees and power lines, washed out roads, littered neighborhoods with debris, and in many cases, snapped whole power poles in half, officials said.

Officials are prioritizing power restoration after Fiona ravaged power lines and communication networks across the province, Premier Tim Houston said Sunday morning.

“Getting roads cleared, giving space to the crews to do what needs to be done, that’s the most important thing right now,” Houston said. “It will take time.”

Houston said there haven’t been too many reports of serious injuries, though about 200 people are currently displaced from their homes.

“The damage is significant, but right now that the priority right now is getting power back to people, getting people to a safe shelter, getting, you know, some return to normal,” he said. “That will take time when we come out of this.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that the government approved Nova Scotia’s request for federal assistance and that Canadian Armed Forces will be deployed to help out in the region. The Prime Minister said residents lived through a “terrifying” 12 hours Saturday.

“People have seen their homes washed away, seen the winds rip schools’ roofs off,” Trudeau said. “And as Canadians, as we always do in times of difficulty, we will be there for each other.”

In Prince Edward Island’s Charlottetown, police shared images of downed power lines over buildings, fallen trees blocking roadways and piercing through structures. The region’s utility, Maritime Electric, said it was concerned about people out walking and driving on streets where there is widespread damage from downed power lines and possible live wires.

Power outages across Nova Scotia

Several provinces were impacted by the heavy winds and rain, but none more than Nova Scotia. As of Sunday morning, about 350,000 customers were still without power early Sunday across Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick — including about 250,000 in Nova Scotia, according to Poweroutage.com.

Nearly three quarters of Nova Scotia lost electricity as Fiona pushed through, Houston said Saturday. Peak wind gusts of 171 km/h (106 mph) were recorded in the province’s town of Arisaig Saturday. Meanwhile, Wreckhouse in Newfoundland saw 170 km/h (105 mph) gusts.

Poor weather conditions have hampered power restoration efforts, Nova Scotia Power President and CEO Peter Gregg said Saturday. More than 900 power technicians were on their way to the area, but some customers may experience power outages for several days, he said.

In Nova Scotia’s capital, Halifax, strong winds uprooted trees and downed power lines, sending sparks flying and lights flickering off.

A Halifax apartment complex’s roof collapsed, forcing about 100 people to leave for a shelter, Mayor Mike Savage told CNN Saturday.

“The magnitude of this storm has been breathtaking,” Savage later said at a Saturday news conference. “It turned out to be everything predicted.”

Osborne Head in Nova Scotia received 192 mm (7.55 inches) of rain and Crowe Brook in New Brunswick got 107 mm (4.2 inches), among other heavy rainfall amounts across the provinces.

‘Total war zone,’ Port aux Basques mayor says

In Newfoundland, video showed buildings floating in water and submerged cars under heavy rains. A woman was rescued from the water after her house collapsed, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. She was taken to a hospital; the extent of her injuries wasn’t immediately known, police said.

Port aux Basques, a town at the southwest tip of Newfoundland, was also one of the worst-hit areas, Trudeau said Saturday.

“We’re seeing devastating images coming out of Port aux Basques,” he said. “Obviously as we see the images of houses falling into the sea, of waves destroying property and buildings, our first thought needs to be for people.”

First responders there were dealing with multiple electrical fires, residential flooding and washouts.

“We’ve got a total war zone here, we’ve got destruction everywhere,” Port aux Basques Mayor Brian Button said in a video update, warning that more storm surges are expected.

Port aux Basques is now under a boil water order, and power was still out for many residents. Concrete barriers were also set up around areas that were rendered “danger zones” by the storm, the mayor said.

The Port aux Basques tide gauge recorded a maximum total water level of 2.73 meters (8.96 feet) — topping its previous record of 2.71 (8.89 feet) meters set in 2017, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre.

CNN’s Derek Van Dam, Eric Levenson, Tina Burnside, Jason Hanna, Christina Maxouris, Hannah Sarisohn and Andy Rose contributed to this report.

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Canada’s military sent to help recovery after storm Fiona batters coast | Canada

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Canadian troops are being sent to assist the recovery from the devastation of storm Fiona, which swept away houses, stripped off roofs and knocked out power across the country’s Atlantic provinces.

After surging north from the Caribbean as a hurricane, Fiona came ashore before dawn on Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone, battering Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricane-strength winds, heavy rains and huge waves.

The defense minister, Anita Anand, said on Saturday that troops would help remove fallen trees and other debris, restore transportation links and do whatever else was required for as long as it took. She didn’t specify how many troops would be deployed.

Fiona was blamed for at least five deaths in the Caribbean, but there was no confirmation of any fatalities or serious injuries in Canada. Police said a woman who might have been swept away was listed as missing in the town of Channel-Port Aux Basques on the southern coast of Newfoundland.

Raging surf pounded Port Aux Basques and entire structures were washed into the sea.

“I’m seeing homes in the ocean, I’m seeing rubble floating all over the place – it’s complete and utter destruction,” René J. Roy, chief editor at Wreckhouse Press and a resident of the town, said in a phone interview. “There’s an apartment that is gone.”

Roy estimated between eight and 12 houses and buildings had washed into the sea. “It’s quite terrifying.”

The Royal Canadian mounted police said the town of 4,000 people was in a state of emergency with multiple electrical fires and residential flooding.

A fallen tree lies on a crushed truck after storm Fiona in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Photograph: Ted Pritchard/Reuters

As the extent of damage became clear, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, canceled his trip to Japan for the funeral for assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

“We are seeing devastating images coming out of Port aux Basques,” Trudeau said. “PEI [Prince Edward Island] has experienced storm damage like they’ve never seen. Cape Breton is being hit hard, too.

“There are people who see their houses destroyed, people who are very worried — we will be there for you.”

Mike Savage, mayor of Halifax, said the roof of an apartment building collapsed in Nova Scotia’s biggest city and officials had moved 100 people to an evacuation centre. He said no one was seriously hurt.

Provincial officials said other apartment buildings sustained significant damage.

More than 415,000 Nova Scotia Power customers – about 80% of the province of almost 1 million people – were affected by outages on Saturday.

More than 82,000 customers in the province of Prince Edward Island, about 95%, also lost power, while NB Power in New Brunswick reported 44,329 were without electricity.

Peter Gregg, president and chief executive of Nova Scotia Power, said unprecedented peak winds inflicted severe damage and the bad weather kept repair crews from going out at first. He said about 380,000 customers remained without power on Saturday afternoon as a weakening Fiona moved away over the Gulf of St Lawrence.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre tweeted that Fiona had the lowest pressure ever recorded for a storm making landfall in Canada. Forecasters had warned it could be the one of the most powerful storms to hit the country.

“We’re getting more severe storms more frequently,” Trudeau said.

More resilient infrastructure was needed to withstand extreme weather events, the prime minister said, adding that what was once a one-in-100 year storm might now arrive every few years because of climate change.

“Things are only getting worse,” Trudeau said.

A tree falls on a house inHalifax, Nova Scotia. Photograph: Ted Pritchard/Reuters

A state of local emergency was declared in the Cape Breton regional municipality.

“There are homes that have been significantly damaged due to downed trees, big old trees falling down and causing significant damage,” the mayor, Amanda McDougall, told the Associated Press.

“We’re also seeing houses that their roofs have completely torn off, windows breaking in. There is a huge amount of debris in the roadways.”

The Nova Scotia premier, Tim Houston, said roads were washed out – including his own – and that an “incredible” amount of trees had been blown over.
“It is pretty devastating.”

The Prince Edward Island premier, Dennis King, said few communities were spared damage, with the devastation looking to be beyond anything they had seen before in the province.

The federal minister of emergency preparedness, Bill Blair, said there was very extensive damage at the airport in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

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Fiona sweeps away houses, knocks out power in eastern Canada

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TORONTO — Fiona washed houses into the sea, tore the roofs off others and knocked out power to the vast majority of two Canadian provinces as it made landfall before dawn Saturday as a big, powerful post-tropical cyclone.

Fiona transformed from a hurricane into a post-tropical storm late Friday, but it still had hurricane-strength winds and brought drenching rains and huge 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 sea. Mayor Brian Button said Saturday over social media that people were being evacuated to high ground as winds knocked down power lines.

“I’m seeing homes in the ocean. I’m seeing rubble floating all over the place. It’s complete and utter destruction. There’s an apartment that is 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 sea. “It’s quite terrifying,” he said.

Fiona transformed from a hurricane into a post-tropical storm late Friday.
AP

Jolene Garland, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Newfoundland and Labrador, said a woman was safe and in “good health” after being “tossed into the water as her home collapsed” in the Channel-Port Aux Basques area. Garland said that an individual who might have been swept away was still reported as missing and that high winds were preventing an aerial search.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the town of 4,000 people was in a state of emergency as authorities dealt with 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 assist.

“We are 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.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau canceled his trip to Japan for the funeral for Shinzo Abe.
AP

“Canadians are thinking of all those affected by Hurricane Fiona, which is having devastating effects in the Atlantic provinces and eastern Quebec, particularly in the Magdalen Islands. There are people who see their houses destroyed, people who are very worried — we will be there for you.”

Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said the roof of an apartment building collapsed and they moved 100 people to an evacuation center. He said no one was seriously hurt or killed. Provincial officials said there are other apartment buildings that are also significantly damaged. Halifax has about 160 people displaced from two apartments, officials said.

More than 415,000 Nova Scotia Power customers — about 80% of the province of almost 1 million — were affected by outages Saturday morning. Over 82,000 customers in the province of Prince Edward Island, about 95%, were also without power, while NB Power in New Brunswick reported 44,329 were without electricity.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre tweeted early Saturday that Fiona had the lowest pressure ever recorded for a storm making landfall in Canada. Forecasters had warned it could be the one of the most powerful storms to hit the country.

“We’re getting more severe storms more frequently,” Trudeau said Saturday.

He said more resilient infrastructure is needed to be able withstand extreme weather events, saying a one in a 100-year storm might start to hit every few years because of 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 that have been significantly damaged due to 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 huge amount of debris in the roadways,” Amanda McDougall, mayor of Cape Breton Regional Municipality, told The Associated Press

“There is a lot of damage to belongings and structures but no injuries to people as of this point. Again we’re still in the midst of this,” she said. “It’s still terrifying. I’m just sitting here in my living room and it feels like the patio doors are going to break in with those big gusts.”

The roof of an apartment building collapsed and they moved 100 people to an evacuation center in Halifax.
AP

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said roads were washed out, including his own, and said an “incredible” amount of trees were down.

“It is pretty devastating. The sad reality is the people who need information are unable to hear it. Their phones are not working, they don’t have power or access to the internet,” Houston said.

Peter Gregg, President and CEO of Nova Scotia Power, said unprecedented peak winds caused severe damage. “In many areas, weather conditions are still too dangerous for our crews to get 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 had no reports of any significant injuries or deaths. But he said few communities were spared damage, with the devastation looking to be beyond anything they had seen previously in the province. He said over 95% of islanders remained without power.

Federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair said there was very extensive damage at the airport in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He said other airports also were hit, but that damage at the Halifax facility, Nova Scotia’s largest airport, was minor.

Fiona had weakened to tropical storm strength late Saturday afternoon as 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 extended outward up to 550 miles (890 kilometers).

Hurricanes in Canada are somewhat rare, in part because once the storms reach colder waters, they lose their main source of energy. But post-tropical cyclones still can have hurricane-strength winds, although they have a cold core and no visible eye. They also often lose their symmetric form and more resemble a comma.

In Sydney, Nova Scotia, the largest city in Cape Breton, about 20 people took refuge at the Centre 200 sports and entertainment facility, said Christina Lamey, a spokeswoman for the region. Lamey said there were hundreds of people displaced in the province.

Arlene and Robert Grafilo fled to Centre 200 with their children, ages 3 and 10, after a huge tree fell on their duplex apartment.

“We were trapped and we couldn’t open the doors and the windows, so that’s when we decided to call 911,” Arlene Grafilo said. She said firefighters eventually rescued them.

Fiona so far has been blamed for at least five deaths.
AP

Peter MacKay, a former foreign minister and defense minister who lives in Nova Scotia, said he and his family had a long night and said the winds were still raging in the afternoon.

“We had put everything we could out of harm’s way, but the house got hammered pretty hard. Lost lots of shingles, heavy water damage in ceilings, walls, our deck is destroyed. A garage that I was building blew away,” MacKay said in an email to The Associated Press.

“Never seen anything like it. Lived through some crazy weather,” he added.

He called the images from Newfoundland heartbreaking.

Fiona so far has been blamed for at least five deaths — two in Puerto Rico, two in the Dominican Republic and one in the French island of Guadeloupe.

In the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Ian was predicted to rapidly strengthen in the coming 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 middle 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.

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Fiona slams Canada’s Atlantic coast, knocking out power for thousands and damaging homes

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CNN
 — 

Fiona is ripping through Canada’s eastern seaboard at hurricane strength after making landfall in Nova Scotia on Saturday, slamming the area with fierce winds and storm surge, sapping power for hundreds of thousands and washing away or collapsing some coastal homes.

Fiona, now a post-tropical cyclone, had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph – still the power of a Category 1 hurricane – around 2 p.m. ET Saturday, with its center over the Gulf of St. Lawrence and heading toward eastern Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Some coastal homes have collapsed – and a few toppled structures even fell into the sea or were surrounded by floodwater – in Newfoundland and Labrador, pictures sent from the province Saturday morning showed.

In the province’s coastal Channel-Port aux Basques town, “we’ve already had houses … and things that are washed away,” Mayor Brian Button said in a Facebook video Saturday morning. Dangerous storm surges – ocean water pushed onto land – had been expected, forecasters said.

A collapsed building in Channel-Port aux Basques was surrounded by seawater at the shoreline, and splintered wood and other debris were scattered across town, pictures taken by area resident Terry Osmond showed.

“Never in my lifetime” has there been “so much destruction … in our area,” Osmond, 62, wrote to CNN.

A woman in town was rescued from water Saturday afternoon after her home collapsed, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. She was taken to a hospital; the extent of her injuries wasn’t immediately known, police said.

About a 30-minute drive to the east, several buildings were blown apart In the coastal Newfoundland community of Burnt Islands, video posted to Facebook by Pius Scott showed. Homes – or parts of them – collapsed in heaps, and debris littered the ground and seawater.

Power outages were reported for more than 540,000 utility customers in Atlantic Canada early Saturday afternoon, including more than 391,000 in Nova Scotia and nearly all of Prince Edward Island’s 87,000 tracked customers, according to Poweroutage.com.

The storm made landfall in the darkness of early Saturday as a powerful post-tropical cyclone in eastern Nova Scotia, between Canso and Guysborough, and crossed over the province’s Cape Breton Island. Officials in the Cape Breton area declared an emergency and asked people to shelter in place.

“Across the province, we’re hearing reports of damaged trees and power lines as the storm continues to pass through,” the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office tweeted.

West of landfall, in Nova Scotia’s capital, Halifax, an apartment complex’s roof collapsed, forcing about 100 people to leave for a shelter, Mayor Mike Savage told CNN Saturday.

“A lot of uprooted trees – power outages all over the place. Our bridges, our connections to transit, are all closed out,” Savage said.

In the Prince Edward Island capital of Charlottetown, police tweeted photos of damage including a home’s collapsed ceiling.

“Conditions are like nothing we’ve ever seen,” Charlottetown police tweeted early Saturday.

After passing through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Fiona should reach Quebec’s lower north shore and Newfoundland and Labrador by late Saturday, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said.

Hurricane-force gusts were reported Saturday morning across parts of Maritime Canada, generally ranging from 70 to 95 mph (110 to over 150 kph). A top gust as of mid-morning was 111 mph (179 kph) in Arisaig, Nova Scotia, according to Environment Canada.

Rainfall could total up to 10 inches in some places, and significant flooding is possible, forecasters said.

Officials along Canada’s Atlantic seaboard had urged people to prepare for the storm, which has already claimed the lives of at least five people and shut off power for millions as it battered islands in the Caribbean and the Atlantic this week.

Fiona “could be a landmark event for Canada in terms of intensity of a tropical cyclone,” and it could even become Canada’s version of Superstorm Sandy, Chris Fogarty, Canadian Hurricane Centre manager, said before Fiona hit. Sandy in 2012 affected 24 states and all of the eastern seaboard, 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 land-falling storm on record in Canada, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre.

Fiona had been a Category 4 storm early Wednesday over the Atlantic after passing the Turks and Caicos and remained so until Friday afternoon, when it weakened on approach to Canada.

It became post-tropical before making landfall – meaning instead of a warm core, the storm now had a cold core. This does not affect the storm’s ability to produce intense winds, rain and storm surge – it just means the storm’s interior mechanics have changed.

Fiona approached Canada at the same time as a trough of low pressure and cold air to the north – much like Sandy did, according to Bob Robichaud of the Canadian Hurricane Centre.

“Sandy was larger than Fiona is expected to be even. But the process is essentially the same – where you have two features kind of feeding off each other to create one strong storm like we’re going to see,” he said Friday.

As of 2 p.m. Saturday, hurricane-force winds extended up to 115 miles out from Fiona’s center, while tropical-storm-force winds reached up to 405 miles out, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

Large swells generated by Fiona could cause life-threatening surf and rip currents along not only Atlantic Canada, but also the US Northeast coast and Bermuda, the hurricane center said.



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Storm Fiona hammers Canada’s east coast, forcing evacuations

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HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Powerful storm Fiona slammed into eastern Canada on Saturday with hurricane-force winds, forcing evacuations, blowing over trees and powerlines, and leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without electricity.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the center of the storm, downgraded to Post-Tropical Cyclone Fiona, was now in the Gulf of St. Lawrence after racing through Nova Scotia.

After taking its toll on Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the storm battered Newfoundland, but is now likely to weaken, the NHC said.

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Port aux Basques on the southwest tip of Newfoundland declared a state of emergency and is evacuating parts of the town that suffered flooding and road washouts, according to Mayor Brian Button and police.

“First responders are dealing with multiple electrical fires, residential flooding and washouts. Residents are asked to obey evacuation orders and to find a safe place to weather the storm,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Newfoundland said on Twitter.

“This is hitting us really, really hard right now,” Button said in a Saturday morning video posted on Facebook in which he urged residents to stay indoors or, if asked, to evacuate. “We have a fair bit of destruction in town… We do not need anyone else injured or hurt in during this.”

Homes along the coastline were destroyed by the storm surge, CBC reported, showing images of debris and extensive damage in the town.

Fiona, which nearly a week ago battered Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean, made landfall between Canso and Guysborough, Nova Scotia, where the Canadian Hurricane Centre said it recorded what may have been the lowest barometric pressure of any storm to hit land in the country’s history.

Ian Hubbard, meteorologist for the Canadian Hurricane Centre, told Reuters it appears Fiona lived up to expectations that it would be a “historical” storm.

“It did look like it had the potential to break the all-time record in Canada, and it looks like it did,” he said. “We’re still not out of this yet.”

Storms are not uncommon in the region and typically cross over rapidly, but Fiona is expected to impact a very large area.

Hubbard said Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island still have many hours of strong winds, rain and storm surge to go, and the west coast of Newfoundland would be pounded throughout the day.

While scientists have not yet determined whether climate change influenced Fiona’s strength or behavior, there is strong evidence that these devastating storms are getting worse.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER

Some 79% of customers, or 414,000, were without power in Nova Scotia, and 95%, or 82,000, had lost power on Prince Edward Island, utility companies said. The region was also experiencing spotty mobile phone service. Police across the region reported multiple road closures.

“She was a wild ride last night, sounded like the whole roof was going to blow off,” said Gary Hatcher, a retiree who lives in Sydney, Nova Scotia, near where the storm made landfall. A maple tree was toppled in his back yard but did not damage his house.

Sydney recorded wind gusts of 141 kph (88 mph), Hubbard said.

The storm weakened somewhat as it traveled north. As of 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), it was over the Gulf of St. Lawrence about 100 miles (160 km) west-north-west of Port aux Basques, carrying maximum winds of 80 miles per hour (130 kph) and barreling north at around 25 mph (41 kph), the NHC said.

Fiona is expected to maintain hurricane-force winds until Saturday afternoon, the NHC said.

As a powerful hurricane when it lashed Caribbean islands earlier in the week, Fiona killed at least eight and knocked out power for virtually all of Puerto Rico’s 3.3 million people during a sweltering heat wave. Nearly a million people remained without power five days later.

No casualties have yet been reported in Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delayed Saturday’s departure for Japan, where he was to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to receive briefings and support the government’s emergency response, Press Secretary Cecely Roy said on Twitter.

Canadian authorities sent emergency alerts in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, warning of severe flooding along shorelines and extremely dangerous waves. People in coastal areas were advised to evacuate.

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Reporting Eric Martyn in Halifax and John Morris in Stephenville; Additional reporting by Ivelisse Rivera in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Ismail Shakil and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Writing by Steve Scherer; Editing by Frances Kerry and Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Fiona slams Canada’s Atlantic coast with hurricane-force winds, heavy rain

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Fiona’s sustained winds have dropped slightly to 80 mph, which is still equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.

The center warns that “significant impacts from high winds, storm surge, and heavy rainfall are still expected” from the storm, now considered a post-tropical cyclone.

Fiona is currently in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, roughly 100 miles (160 km) west-northwest of Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland, and is moving north toward Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. The highest recorded wind gust for Fiona so far is 111 mph (179 kph) in Arisaig, Nova Scotia.

“Fiona continues to produce hurricane-force winds, heavy rains, storm surge, and rough marine conditions across Atlantic Canada and the surrounding waters,” the hurricane center said. “Surface observations suggest that the minimum pressure has been rising, and is not estimated to be about 945mb, which is still extraordinarily low.”

Remember: In general, the lower the central pressure, the stronger the storm.

Fiona’s forward speed has slowed to 25 mph, which is below average for this region; traditionally, a storm at this latitude has a forward speed around 32 mph. The hurricane center also cautions that large swells generated by Fiona are expected to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along the northeast coast of the Northeast US, Bermuda and Atlantic Canada over the next few days.

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Fiona makes landfall, slams Canada’s Atlantic coast with severe winds and rain

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CNN
 — 

Hurricane-strength Fiona is ripping through Canada’s eastern seaboard after making landfall in Nova Scotia early Saturday, slamming the area with fierce rain and damaging winds and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands in what could be a “landmark” weather event for the country.

Fiona, now a post-tropical cyclone, had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph – the power of a Category 1 hurricane – at 8 a.m. ET Saturday, with its center over the Gulf of St. Lawrence after crossing Nova Scotia, the US National Hurricane Center said.

The storm has wiped out power to most of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island Saturday morning, with winds and rains extending far from the storm’s center. More than 540,000 outages were reported in Atlantic Canada, including to nearly all of Prince Edward Island’s 86,000 customers, according to utility tracker Poweroutage.com.

Officials in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton area asked people to shelter in place.

“Across the province, we’re hearing reports of damaged trees and power lines as the storm continues to pass through,” the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office tweeted.

Residents in New Brunswick, southern Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador additionally face severe weather as Fiona tracks north following its landfall between Canso and Guysborough in eastern Nova Scotia.

Officials along Canada’s Atlantic seaboard have urged those in Fiona’s path to be on high alert and prepare for the impact of the storm, which has already claimed the lives of at least five people and shut off power for millions as it battered multiple Caribbean or Atlantic islands this week.

“We were still making calls to residents (through late Friday) just to try to give some heads up that … you need to be ready to move at a moment’s notice if you don’t already move right then,” Brian Button, mayor of Newfoundland’s Channel-Port aux Basques, told CNN Saturday.

Fiona is on track to be an “extreme weather event” in eastern Canada, threatening with about two months’ worth of rainfall, forecasters in Canada said Friday.

“This could be a landmark event for Canada in terms of intensity of a tropical cyclone,” and it could even become Canada’s version of Superstorm Sandy, said Chris Fogarty, Canadian Hurricane Centre manager. Sandy in 2012 affected 24 states and all of the eastern seaboard, causing an estimated $78.7 billion in damage.

An unofficial barometric pressure of 931.6 mb was recorded at Hart Island, which would make Fiona the lowest pressure land-falling storm on record in Canada, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre. Wind observations on Beaver Island in eastern Nova Scotia were recorded at 100 mph (161 km/h).

After passing through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Fiona should reach Quebec’s lower north shore and Newfoundland and Labrador by late Saturday, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said. Hurricane-force gusts have been reported across parts of Maritime Canada, ranging from 70 to 95 mph (110 to over 150 kph).

Fiona had been a Category 4 storm early Wednesday over the Atlantic after passing the Turks and Caicos and remained so until Friday afternoon, when it weakened on approach to Canada. It became post-tropical before making landfall, arriving at the same time as a trough of low pressure and cold air to the north – much like Sandy did, according to Bob Robichaud of the Canadian Hurricane Centre.

“Sandy was larger than Fiona is expected to be even. But the process is essentially the same – where you have two features kind of feeding off each other to create one strong storm like we’re going to see overnight and into tomorrow,” he said Friday.

Hurricane-force winds extended up to 175 miles out from Fiona’s center while tropical-storm-force winds reached up to 405 miles out as of 8 a.m. ET, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

In the days leading up to Fiona’s expected arrival, officials ramped up services to assist those in need and implored residents to take caution.

“It has the potential to be very dangerous,” said John Lohr, the minister responsible for the Emergency Management Office for Nova Scotia, on Thursday. “Impacts are projected to be felt across the province.”

Residents should brace for damaging winds, high waves, coastal storm surge and heavy rainfall, which may lead to prolonged power outages, Lohr said. Emergency officials have encouraged people to secure outdoor items, trim trees, charge cell phones and create a 72-hour emergency kit.

Shelters for residents have been established throughout Nova Scotia, including multiple in Halifax County, according to officials.

The area has not seen a storm this intense for about 50 years, according to Fogarty.

“Please take it seriously because we are seeing meteorological numbers in our weather maps that are rarely seen here,” Fogarty said.

Prince Edward Island officials also implored residents to prepare for the worst as the storm looms.

Tanya Mullally, who serves as the province’s head of emergency management, said one of the most pressing concerns with Fiona is the historic storm surge it is expected to unleash.

“Storm surge is certainly going to be significant. … Flooding that we have not seen nor can we measure against,” Mullally said Thursday during an update.

Canadian Hurricane Center modeling suggests the surge “depending on the area, could be anywhere from 1.8 to 2.4 meters (6-8 feet),” said Robichaud.

The northern portion of the island stands to bear the brunt of the storm due to the direction of the winds, which will likely cause property damage and coastal flooding, Mullally said.

All provincial campgrounds, beaches and day-use parks as well as the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park were closed Friday, the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office said.



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Fiona wallops Canada’s Novia Scotia with storm surges expected

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One of the strongest storms ever to hit Canada slammed into Nova Scotia’s coastline early Saturday, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power.

Former Hurricane Fiona made landfall early on Saturday morning over Guysborough county on the northeast corner of mainland Nova Scotia, Canada’s weather service said. There were maximum sustained winds of almost 81 mph, while peak gusts of over 100 mph were detected, it added.

It is the lowest pressured land falling storm on record in Canada, according to the Canadian Hurricane Center, which also described hurricane-force gusts battering the area. More than 40% of the population in Nova Scotia is affected by power outages, according to utility company Nova Scotia power.

Previously a hurricane, the National Hurricane Center declared that Fiona morphed into a post-tropical cyclone as it bolted north, exhibiting characteristics of storms with both tropical and high-latitude pedigree.

Irrespective of its technical designation, forecasters cautioned that the storm would be a blockbuster.

“This storm will be a severe event for Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec,” the Canadian Hurricane Center wrote Friday. The federal agency previously said the storm had the potential to become “historic” and “a landmark weather event.”

The storm was forecast to be so serious that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau postponed a visit to Japan, where he planned to attend Shinzo Abe’s funeral, at the last minute on Friday.

Hurricane warnings cover most of Nova Scotia as well as Prince Edward Island and western Newfoundland, where meteorologists predict 3 to 6 inches of rain, with up to 10 inches in some areas, and hurricane-force winds of at least 74 mph. Tropical storm warnings extend from New Brunswick to eastern Quebec to northern Newfoundland, where rainfall could reach 5 inches and winds at least 39 mph.

The center also predicted a considerable ocean surge, or storm-driven rise in water above normally dry land, causing coastal flooding. It predicted a “rough and pounding surf” with waves up to 26 to 40 feet (8 to 12 meters).

As Fiona eyes Nova Scotia, a look at Canada’s strongest storms of the past

Ahead of the storm’s arrival, Nova Scotia, home to about 1 million people, was preparing Friday for the worst.

Nova Scotia Power warned of widespread power outages, with trees still in full bloom and soils relatively soft, and activated its emergency operations center. And the blackouts could be lasting, as crews will wait for winds to calm before they safely begin repairs, said Dave Pickles, the utility’s chief operating officer.

Fiona, which brought devastating flooding to Puerto Rico and cut power to the entire island, is the latest marker of an Atlantic hurricane season that started slow but has suddenly turned active. The storm is one of five systems meteorologists are watching in the Atlantic basin, including one that organized into Tropical Storm Ian Friday night and could soon become a threat to Florida as a hurricane.

Jason Samenow contributed to this report.



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Hurricane Fiona: As storm passes near Bermuda, Canadians on the Atlantic coast are on guard

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CNN
 — 

Deadly Hurricane Fiona has strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it barrels toward Canada’s Atlantic coast, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Officials in Canada’s Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island are urging those in the storm’s path to be on high alert and prepare for the impact of the hurricane, which has already claimed the lives of at least five people and shut off power for millions this week as it battered multiple Caribbean islands.

“The Air Force Hurricane Hunters have been investigating the major hurricane and have found that it remains powerful and very large,” the center said in an update Friday morning.

The storm “is projected to be a significant and historical weather event for Nova Scotia,” said John Lohr, the minister responsible for the provincial Emergency Management Office.

“It has the potential to be very dangerous. Impacts are projected to be felt across the province. Every Nova Scotian should be preparing today,” Lohr added during an official update Thursday.

Residents should brace for damaging winds, high waves, coastal storm surge and heavy rainfall that may lead to prolonged power outages, Lohr said. Emergency officials have encouraged people to secure outdoor items, trim trees, charge cell phones and create a 72-hour emergency kit.

The area hasn’t seen a storm this intense for about 50 years, according to Chris Fogarty, manager for Canadian Hurricane Centre.

“Please take it seriously because we are seeing meteorological numbers in our weather maps that are rarely seen here,” Fogarty said.

Utility company Nova Scotia Power activated an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Friday morning that will serve as the central coordination area for outage restoration and response, according to a news release.

The company will also be working closely with the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office.

“We are taking every precaution and will be ready to respond to Hurricane Fiona as safely and efficiently as possible,” Sean Borden, the storm lead coordinator for Nova Scotia Power, said in the release.

“Once Fiona passes by Bermuda, the storm is forecast to impact Nova Scotia by Saturday afternoon. Fiona will become extratropical before impact, but this will do little to hinder the damage that Fiona will cause,” CNN Meteorologist Robert Shackelford explained.

Across Atlantic Canada, winds could be around 100 mph (160 kph) as Fiona makes landfall on Nova Scotia, Shackelford said.

Bermuda, which is under a tropical storm warning, closed schools and government offices Friday, according to Michael Weeks, the island’s minister of national security.

In Canada, hurricane warnings are in place for Nova Scotia from Hubbards to Brule and in Newfoundland from Parson’s Pond to Francois. Prince Edward Island and Isle-de-la-Madeleine are also under warnings.

Prince Edward Island officials are imploring residents to prepare for the worst as the storm looms.

Tanya Mullally, who serves as the province’s head of emergency management, said one of the most pressing concerns with Fiona is the historic storm surge that it’s expected to unleash.

“Storm surge is certainly going to be significant. … Flooding that we have not seen nor can we measure against,” Mullally said Thursday during an update.

She added the northern portion of the island stands to bear the brunt of the storm due to the direction of the winds, which will likely cause property damage and coastal flooding.

All provincial campgrounds, beaches and day-use parks as well as the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park will close Friday at noon, the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office said.

“Safety is our priority as we prepare for significant storm conditions Friday night and Saturday. We are closing provincial park properties for the storm and will reopen when it is safe,” Natural Resources and Renewables Minister Tory Rushton said in a statement announcing the closures.

Earlier this week, Fiona damaged homes and upended critical power and water infrastructure for millions of people across Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos.

Days after Puerto Rico experienced an island-wide blackout as Fiona made landfall Sunday, only 38% of customers had their power restored Thursday, according to power grid operator LUMA Energy.

The mass power outage is happening as much of Puerto Rico endures extreme heat, which caused temperatures to feel as hot as 112 degrees on Thursday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

Daniel Hernández, director of renewable projects at LUMA, explained critical places including hospitals will be prioritized before repairs can begin on an individual level.

“This is a normal process. The important thing is that everyone is calm … we are working to ensure that 100% of customers have service as soon as possible,” Hernández said.

Nearly 360,000 customers were experiencing intermittent water service or no service at all as of Thursday evening, according to the government’s emergency portal system.

As of Wednesday, more than 800 people were housed in dozens of shelters across the island, according to Puerto Rico’s housing secretary, William Rodriguez.

President Joe Biden has approved a major disaster declaration for the US territory, FEMA said. The move allows residents to access grants for temporary housing and home repairs as well as low-interest loans to cover uninsured property losses.

In the Dominican Republic, Fiona affected 8,708 households and destroyed 2,262 homes, according to the nation’s head of emergency operations, Maj. Gen. Juan Méndez García.

He said more than 210,000 homes and businesses were still in the dark Thursday morning, and another 725,246 customers were without running water.

“This was something incredible that we’ve never seen before,” Ramona Santana in Higüey, Dominican Republic, told CNN en Español this week. “We’re in the streets with nothing, no food, no shoes, clothes, just what’s on your back. … We don’t have anything. We have God, and the hope help will come.”

Fiona also menaced parts of the Turks and Caicos Tuesday, and areas of the British territory were still without power earlier this week, namely on Grand Turk, South Caicos, Salt Cay, North Caicos and Middle Caicos, said Anya Williams, acting governor of the islands.

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Is it safe to fly over a hurricane? A JetBlue plane flew right over Fiona

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As Hurricane Fiona pulled away from the Dominican Republic, eventually strengthening into the year’s first Category 3 major storm, more than two dozen flights out of the country’s biggest airport were canceled. But one made it out.

The flight, headed from Punta Cana to Newark via JetBlue late Monday, took off nearly five hours late, just after 7 p.m. It appeared on flight trackers as a lone craft in the middle of a swirling hurricane. It sparked alarm among some weather and aviation observers and prompted a question: Can you fly over a hurricane?

“I have seen the JetBlue flight that apparently went over Fiona and I will say that depending on cloud top heights you CAN fly over a hurricane,” tweeted Nick Underwood, an aerospace engineer who flies into the heart of storms as a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hurricane Hunters to collect vital data.

But, he added, “it is still not something I would recommend.”

It is not unprecedented for pilots to steer close to or over storms, and it can be done safely, meteorologists and aviation experts said. Pilots can make decisions based on weather in consultation with the Federal Aviation Administration and with their airlines’ own experts — as was the case Monday evening, a JetBlue spokesman said. The JetBlue flight landed safely at Newark International Airport just before 11 p.m. Monday.

Flight trackers show multiple other JetBlue flights passed through Fiona late Monday into Tuesday.

While the FAA provides some advisory information, it is ultimately up to the airlines and their team of meteorologists to determine whether a flight is safe enough for passengers.

Fiona barreling toward Canada as threat to U.S. grows from new disturbance

The airline had been monitoring Fiona to determine routes to safely navigate around or above the system, spokesman Derek Dombrowski said, adding that the airline had canceled many flights that could not depart safely.

“Each flight is planned by a team of experts who then monitor progress of the flight and weather continuously,” Dombrowski said in an email. “It is important to understand that when routing a flight both the direction and the height of the weather system are factored into our decision-making.”

The main dangers in flying near or through hurricanes involve lightning, hail and winds, which are strongest near the center of a storm and vary in direction around it. There’s also concern about updrafts — strong vertically oriented blasts of wind present in any type of thunderstorm. One FAA report from 2011 warns of the possibility of “violent turbulence anywhere within 20 miles of very strong thunderstorms.”

“An aircraft when sufficiently high enough can fly safely above a hurricane as long as they avoid the individual thunderstorms that sometimes are adjacent to the hurricane,” a spokesperson for the Professional Pilots Association, a nonprofit group through which pilots discuss safety, told The Post.

Still, such conditions nearby would likely not make for a pleasant flight, said Randy Bass, a certified consulting meteorologist who runs Bass Weather Services.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to be on that flight,” Bass said.

Fiona was a Category 2 hurricane with maximum wind speeds of 110 mph at its core Monday evening, according to the National Hurricane Center. Data show the height of its clouds would have made it difficult for any aircraft to avoid.

At the time of the flight, clouds around the hurricane’s eye were as high as 45,000 feet, while on the outer fringes of the storm they were between about 33,000 and 39,000 feet, according to satellite data. In general, Category 2 hurricane clouds reach altitudes from about 33,000 to 46,000 feet.

A mapped track of JetBlue Flight 1016 from Flightradar24 shows the Airbus A320 flew at altitudes between about 30,000 feet and 34,000 feet when it passed near Fiona.

Even for the hurricane hunters, safety is a top consideration when planning routes into and around hurricanes. The team, which gathers data used to better understand and forecast hurricanes, flies its Lockheed WP-3D Orion planes into the heart of storms at altitudes of 8,000 to 10,000 feet. To explore conditions above and around hurricanes, it flies its Gulfstream IV-SP aircraft at between 41,000 to 45,000 feet, spokesman Jonathan Shannon said.

Shannon said it would be difficult to estimate how high any aircraft would need to be above a storm to avoid turbulence, noting, “every storm can be different.”

For better forecasts, hurricane hunters probe deep into storms

Hurricane Fiona battered Puerto Rico Sunday, leaving almost 600,000 residents without power before moving the neighboring Dominican Republic. Hours before the flight, up to 20 inches of rain was reported on the eastern side of the Dominican Republic, where the Punta Cana airport is stationed, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The NHC also warned of life-threatening flash and urban flooding in the region.

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