Canadians Suffer Power Outage As Hurricane Fiona Sweeps Houses Away
Hundreds of thousands of people in Canada suffered power outage on Sunday.
This comes after former Hurricane Fiona, swept away houses, stripped off roofs and obstructed roads across the country’s Atlantic provinces.
After streaming north from the Caribbean, 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, rains and waves.
According to Defence Minister Anita Anand, troops would help eliminate fallen trees throughout Eastern Canada, restore transportation links and do whatever else is required for as long as it takes.
However, she didn’t stipulate how many troops would be deployed.
Fiona resulted in at least five deaths in the Caribbean, and while there were no confirmed fatalities in Canada, authorities on Sunday were searching for a 73-year-old woman missing in the hardest hit town of Channel-Port Aux Basques on the southern coast of Newfoundland.
“She’s likely washed out to sea but we haven’t been able to confirm that,” said Cpl Jolene Garland, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
According to the Police, the woman was last seen inside the residence moments before a wave struck the home on Saturday morning, tearing away a portion of the basement.
As of Sunday, more than 252,000 Nova Scotia Power customers and over 82,000 Maritime Electric customers in the province of Prince Edward Island – about 95pc of the total – remained in the dark. So were more than 20,600 homes and businesses in New Brunswick.
More than 415,000 Nova Scotia Power customers – about 80pc in the province of almost one million people – had been affected by outages on Saturday.
Utility companies say it could be days before the lights are back on for everyone.
Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Amanda McDougall said on Sunday that over 200 people were in temporary shelters.
Over 70 roads were completely inaccessible in her region, which declared a state of emergency. She said she couldn’t count the number of homes damaged in her own neighbourhood.
She said it was crucial for the military to come and help clear debris, pointing out that the road to the airport is inaccessible and the tower has significant damage.
“People listened to the warnings and did what they were supposed to do and this was the result,” she said.
