Storm Fiona swept across the east coast of Canada this Saturday, September 24, plunging hundreds of thousands of homes into darkness. The earlier hurricane, which wreaked havoc across the Caribbean Sea a week ago, made it into the Gulf of St. Lawrence after downing numerous trees and power poles in Nova Scotia and Prince’s Island Edward.
According to the Canadian Hurricane Center, Fiona could be the strongest storm to ever hit Canada. Experts fear it will do more damage than Hurricanes Juan in 2003 and Dorian in 2019.
Almost 500,000 people without electricity
After its passage, 79% of subscribers in Nova Scotia, or 414,000 customers, were without power and 95% of those in Prince Edward Island, or 82,000.
Cell phone service was also disrupted and many roads were closed. According to the United States Hurricane Center (NHC), Fiona was still generating gusty winds of 140 km/h when it reached the Gulf of St. Lawrence at around 0800 local time (1200 GMT), although it had weakened significantly since it struck on land.
\ud83c\udf00 STORM FIONA: Over 500,000 homes in eastern Canada are without power. A state of emergency has been declared in several cities. Impressive damage in Port-Aux-Basques, Newfoundland. (Facebook – Amanda Kirkpatrick) pic.twitter.com/eMR1jxGgcc
— French Info (@InfosFrancaises) September 24, 2022
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has postponed his departure to Japan, where he is scheduled to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to keep abreast of developments, his office’s official said on Twitter.
The country’s two main airlines, Air Canada and WestJet Airlines, had all suspended their regional flights on Friday evening.
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