Two killed in Canada as remnants of deadly Hurricane Fiona cause ‘immense’ devastation

Two people have died in Canada after the ‘immense’ devastation caused by the powerful storm Fiona – which swept houses into the sea and caused major power outages for hundreds of thousands of residents.

Officials found the body of a 73-year-old woman who was killed after her home in Newfoundland was destroyed, while another person died on Prince Edward Island, where generator problems may have played a role.

The woman in Newfoundland was said to be hiding in her basement when waves up to 10 meters high broke through her home and dragged her into the sea.

The storm — previously classified as a hurricane — brought intense winds of 80 miles per hour as it arrived at a strength rarely seen in eastern Canada, bringing torrential rains and waves of up to 40 feet.

“The devastation is immense,” said Nova Scotia Prime Minister Tim Houston. “The magnitude of the storm is unbelievable.”

More than 300,000 people were still without electricity in five counties on Sunday after the storm cut trees, ripped roofs off buildings and damaged power lines, officials said. Hundreds of utility companies were working to restore power.

Fiona had previously claimed seven lives as it swept across the Caribbean at the start of a week of devastation.

In the town of Channel-Port aux Basques, on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, storm surges have swept at least 20 homes into the sea.

Mayor Brian Button described “a total war zone” in the coastal community as residents reckoned with the damage, though 200 residents were evacuated before the storm hit.

“Some people have lost everything, and I mean everything,” Button told CBC News.

“The sea took back the land and we parted. Many of our homes are built along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Down there, Fiona wiped out parts of it,’ he said.

Tempers were fraying Sunday as residents tried to return to their homes – or what was left of them.

“I know people are showing up on the barricades this morning angry and wanting to move in and check their properties,” Button said in a live video on Facebook.

“The weather may have cleared up, but the situation hasn’t cleared up at all. You have to give us some time… Unfortunately, this is going to take days, weeks, in some cases months,’ he said.

‘I see houses in the ocean. I see debris floating everywhere. It is complete and utter destruction. There’s an apartment that’s gone, it’s literally just rubble,” René J. Roy, a Channel-Port Aux Basques resident and editor-in-chief at Wreckhouse Press, said in a telephone interview.

Roy estimates that between eight and twenty houses and buildings have been washed into the sea. “It’s pretty scary,” he said.

Nova Scotia’s premier Houston told CBC that the Canadian military had been deployed to clear trees and roads.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said the Canadian Forces will also assist Newfoundland’s cleanup efforts.

This is the third province to request federal military aid, after Nova Scotia on Saturday and Prince Edward Island earlier on Sunday.

“Initial assessments say that overall our road infrastructure may have been a little better than we initially thought, but there is significant areas of serious damage on Prince Edward Island,” PEI Prime Minister Dennis King said.

“The extent and severity of the damage surpasses anything we have seen in the history of our province,” King added.

Television images showed a long line of cars and people on foot queuing to get gas for generators in Cape Breton, an island off the coast of Nova Scotia, where dozens had spent the night in Canadian Red Cross shelters.

On Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown Police Chief Brad MacConnell pleaded with residents to stay indoors while repairs continue.

“We ask people to stay at home unless absolutely necessary,” he told CBC, adding that there is “a lot of destruction” and there is hardly an area of ​​the city that has not been significantly affected.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter that he had met again with his Incident Response Group to ensure “resources are available to help the victims of the storm.”

The Canadian Hurricane Center called the storm “the lowest pressure land storm ever recorded in Canada.” Lower pressure systems cause more intense storms, lifting the atmosphere and moistening it to fuel rain and thunderstorms.

The measurement of 931.6 mb would be not only a Canadian record, but also the lowest pressure ever seen in Canada or the US for a storm north of the Gulf Coast, according to Yale Climate Connections.

The pressure is similar to what is usually expected for a Category 4 hurricane, but it is only a tropical storm because of the large pressure difference across the storm.

Hurricanes in Canada are somewhat rare, in part because once the storms reach colder waters, they lose their primary source of energy. But post-tropical cyclones can still have hurricane strength, even though they have a cold core and no visible eye. They also often lose their symmetrical shape and look more like a comma.