Fiona, now a post-tropical cyclone after a harmful run as a hurricane, made landfall in Atlantic Canada early Saturday with hurricane-force winds and heavy rain.
The storm has already toppled bushes and energy strains and left hundreds with out energy.
The Canadian Hurricane Centre referred to as Fiona a “historic storm for japanese Canada” and a “potential landmark climate occasion” in a area the place hurricanes are comparatively uncommon. Many storms weaken when they attain colder waters.
Fiona is forecast to take care of hurricane-force winds till Saturday afternoon, in accordance with the U.S. Nationwide Hurricane Heart. It’s anticipated to progressively weaken within the subsequent few days.
Forecasters additionally warned Fiona may deliver widespread energy outages, and about 400,000 Nova Scotia Energy clients had been with out energy Saturday morning, the corporate reported.
The place is Fiona?
Saturday morning, the middle of Fiona was over the Gulf of St. Lawrence, about 200 miles northeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The storm had most sustained winds of 85 mph and was shifting north at 23 mph.
Earlier than passing via Bermuda on Friday, the storm devastated giant swaths of the Caribbean, together with Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Officers in Bermuda reported no critical harm.
Not less than 5 individuals have died after Hurricane Fiona — two in Puerto Rico, two within the Dominican Republic and one within the French island of Guadeloupe.
PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE:After Hurricane Fiona, will Puerto Rico ever turn out to be a state or an unbiased nation?
Storm topples energy strains, collapses roofs
As Fiona ripped via Atlantic Canada, it toppled bushes and energy strains and left collapsed roofs in its wake.
Police in Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island reported downed bushes and posted pictures of the harm on Twitter, together with one which reveals the roof of a house collapsed.
“Situations are like nothing we have ever seen,” the police division mentioned on Twitter.
Native police are responding to “highway washouts, downed energy strains, downed bushes and different particles on Nova Scotia roadways,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police mentioned on Twitter. The Nova Scotia Emergency Administration Workplace is at the moment assessing the extent of the harm.
Nova Scotia Mayor Mike Savage advised CNN that 100 individuals had been displaced when an house roof collapsed.
Fiona makes landfall in Canada
Fiona made landfall in Canada early Saturday morning with sustained winds of as much as 100 mph, the equal of a Class 2 hurricane, in accordance with AccuWeather.
AccuWeather meteorologists forecast that Fiona could turn out to be “one of many strongest storms on report” in japanese Canada.
“This may very well be the storm of a lifetime for some individuals,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter mentioned.
The storm is the “lowest pressured land falling storm on report in Canada,” in accordance with the Canadian Hurricane Centre. Sometimes, the farther barometric strain drops, the stronger the storm will probably be.
THE AFTERMATH:In Puerto Rico, Hurricane Fiona leaves a ‘nightmare.’
The storm is about the identical dimension as post-tropical storm Dorian, which pounded Canada in 2019, mentioned Bob Robichaud, warning preparedness meteorologist for the Canadian Hurricane Centre. However Fiona is anticipated to be stronger.
“It’s actually going to be an historic, excessive occasion for japanese Canada,” Robichaud mentioned.
5 YEARS AFTER MARIA:Puerto Ricans had been nonetheless fighting Hurricane Maria’s devastation. Then got here Fiona.
Puerto Ricans livid over lack of energy
Half of Puerto Rico was nonetheless with out energy greater than 5 days after Hurricane Fiona struck, and Puerto Ricans had been rising pissed off with the island’s personal electrical energy transmission and distribution firm.
The state of affairs was worsened by gasoline disruptions that compelled grocery shops, fuel stations and different important companies to shut.
Puerto Rico’s energy grid was already struggling within the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which razed the system in 2017.
HOW TO HELP:Mutual help, nonprofits to assist
Contributing: The Related Press
Contact Information Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or comply with her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
