Lhe Atlantic coast of Canada is preparing this Saturday for the impact of Hurricane Fiona, described as a “historic” storm by the country’s weather services, after its devastating passage in the Caribbean. More than 500,000 homes are without electricity in the east of the country under the first effects of Hurricane Fiona, according to local operators.
“Where it ranks in the history books we will have to determine after the fact, but it will certainly be an historic and extreme event for eastern Canada,” said Bob Robichaud at a press conference on Friday. meteorologist with the Canadian Hurricane Center (CHC), calling Fiona a “major” hurricane.
In its latest bulletin, the CHC states that “this storm is expected to be a severe weather event for Atlantic Canada and Eastern Quebec”. Carrying sustained winds of up to 195 km/h, the hurricane was at 00:00 GMT just over 200 km south of Sable Island, a small sandy strip off Nova Scotia. , and was moving north at a speed of 56 km/h, according to the CCPO.
“We would be lying if we said that we are not worried”
“Fiona will become a very intense post-tropical storm when it makes landfall over eastern Nova Scotia tonight or early Saturday morning,” the CHC wrote, adding that it still expects “this storm will produce very heavy rain and strong winds”, as well as “big waves”. Authorities in the province of Nova Scotia, at the eastern end of Canada, have issued a power outage alert, asking everyone to stay indoors and have enough supplies for at least 72 hours .
In the neighboring province of Prince Edward Island, residents were also preparing for the arrival of the hurricane. “We’d be lying if we said we’re not worried about Fiona,” Lisa Gale, owner of a waterfront restaurant in Charlottetown, told CTV. During a press conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked everyone to “take the right precautions”. Earlier Friday, Bermuda had been rocked by 160 km/h gusts and heavy rains. But after wreaking havoc in the Caribbean, Fiona passed some 100 miles off British territory in the mid-Atlantic Ocean with no casualties or major damage.
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Electricity supplier Belco reported that 15,000 of 36,000 homes were still without power Friday afternoon. Residents posted images of flooding and downed power lines on social media. ” This morning [vendredi], it’s very windy outside,” Jason Rainer, owner of a souvenir shop in the capital Hamilton, told Agence France-Presse. “We had some small damage to our premises, but nothing serious,” he said, pointing out that a few doors and windows had been torn off.
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The territory, located a thousand kilometers from the United States and accustomed to hurricanes, is one of the most isolated places in the world, which makes any evacuation almost impossible in the event of an emergency. The main island had therefore taken the preparations seriously. Buildings and houses must also comply with strict construction rules to withstand storms.
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“Buildings are really made to last, and we never see the devastation that the Caribbean has gone through over the years,” said Elaine Murray, who helped her husband put metal plates on their business in Hamilton before the passage of the hurricane. Fiona caused the deaths of four people in Puerto Rico, a US territory, according to an official quoted by the media. One death was reported in Guadeloupe and two in the Dominican Republic.