Hurricane Fiona wreaks havoc in Canada

With heavy rain and storm surge, Hurricane Fiona caused damage along Canada’s east coast. A state of emergency was declared in some areas yesterday. The coastal city of Port-au-Pasque in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador was hit hard, with many homes destroyed by the waves. The police had previously issued instructions to residents to leave the danger zones.

Also in Nova Scotia, roofs were covered by the storm, electricity poles and trees collapsed and streets were flooded. Tim Houston, the premier of Nova Scotia, spoke of the “incredible number” of deciduous trees. Nearly three quarters of the population is without electricity. Houston said it was too early to estimate the extent of the damage.

Hundreds of thousands without electricity

Post-tropical Storm Fiona made landfall in Nova Scotia yesterday morning (local time) with winds up to 148 km/h, according to the Canadian Hurricane Center. According to the electricity provider Nova Scotia Power, hundreds of thousands of people in Nova Scotia have lost electricity at times. According to the local electricity provider, there have also been tens of thousands of outages in the neighboring county of Prince Edward Island.

Fiona had previously overtaken the British overseas territory of Bermuda as the second-strongest hurricane in the category. Last weekend, Fiona was a Category 1 of five hurricanes that made landfall in Puerto Rico, causing flooding and severe damage.