HALIFAX — People across Atlantic Canada were stocking up on last-minute essentials and storm-proofing their properties Friday ahead of the arrival of Fiona, which forecasters say will hit the region as a “very powerful” post-tropical storm.
The storm, characterized as “historic” in magnitude by meteorologists, is expected to make landfall Saturday morning, bringing hurricane-force winds and more than 100 millimetres of rain to much of the region and eastern Quebec. Closer to the path of Fiona, more than 200 millimetres of rain is expected to fall — potentially leading to the washout of some roads.
In its latest update, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said the storm is moving northward and is expected to reach Nova Scotia waters late Friday night before passing through Cape Breton early Saturday. Fiona is expected to reach Quebec’s Lower North Shore and southeastern Labrador early Sunday.
Dave Buis, vice-commodore of the Northern Yacht Club in North Sydney, N.S., said he is worried about the storm, which is expected to slam the island of Cape Breton.
“Oh definitely, I think this is going to be a bad one,” Buis said in a telephone interview. “Hopefully it will slow up when it hits the cooler water, but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to.”
He said he removed his seven-metre sailboat from the water on Thursday and moved it to a storage area behind the yacht club. Another five boat owners did the same, while others at the club lashed down their boats with extra lines.
“We moved a bunch of piers away from the southeasterly (wind) directions and put them on the other side so they’d be safe,” Buis said. “Everything that was in front of the yacht club needed to be moved.”
Severe winds and rainfall are expected to result in “major impacts” for eastern Prince Edward Island, eastern Nova Scotia, southern and eastern New Brunswick, western Newfoundland, eastern Quebec and southeastern Labrador.
Coastal areas of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are expected to experience pounding surf, with waves expected to reach more than 10 metres off Nova Scotia and more than 12 metres in eastern parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
In addition to significant storm surge, potential for flooding in coastal and mainland areas and an “all-time” low pressure across the region, the storm is expected to cause widespread power outages due to trees and electrical poles brought down by powerful winds.
On Thursday, Environment Canada meteorologist Bob Robichaud said it remains to be seen if Fiona’s wind gusts will set records, but the expectation is that gusts will be stronger in some areas than the 150 km/h winds felt when post-tropical storm Dorian made landfall in 2019.
Nova Scotia Power has said that about 800 utility workers have been positioned in locations around the province in anticipation of outages and damage to power poles.
Amanda McDougall, the mayor of Cape Breton Regional Municipality, said Thursday that officials were preparing a shelter in the Sydney, N.S., area for people to enter before the storm begins. She said emergency planners are concerned that some kinds of older housing won’t be able to withstand the force of the winds.
The Construction Association of Nova Scotia also urged its members to shore up construction sites and building cranes ahead of the storm, warning that buildings under construction would be particularly vulnerable.
“With knowledge that construction and tower crane sites in the province come with some additional risk during these events, we urge you to be diligent to meet all safety precautions,” the association said on its website.
During Dorian, powerful winds toppled a 73-metre high construction crane in downtown Halifax. No one was injured but the crane caused damage to a 13-storey building that was under construction.
In Quebec Friday, Premier François Legault said authorities were keeping a close eye on Fiona, which is on track to hit the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Gaspé and the province’s Lower North Shore.
“I want to tell people in those regions, be careful, there’s a significant risk, prepare for the worst and we’ll hope it goes well,” Legault said in Laval.
Fiona pounded Bermuda with heavy rains and winds early Friday as it swept by the island as a Category 3 hurricane.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2022.
*Since Saturday morning at the least some 42,519 people have died in the region of Gaza. Palestinian & Israeli.
*The Wall Street Journal has told us that 1 Million Ukrainian’s and Russians have died since the annexation of some territory bordering Russia and Ukraine, and with the warfare escalating more soldiers and Ukrainian civilians will be dying daily. According to Hamas governments Ministry of Health over 99,637 people have been wounded in Gaza since Oct 7th,2023. According to the United Nations @19 people are killed every 24 hours in Gaza.
* Last week @ 955 Mexicans & Migrants on the move to the American Border were murdered, some horribly. That is an approximation by the Ministry of the Interior, which admits the figure is probably very low. The Government and Mexican Police simply cannot know for sure just how many migrants are being murdered, or disappeared by Mexican and International Cartels. That is approximately 46,000 people dead annually. That is a very conservative number as well.
This outrage you folks? I am upset that this sort of thing has been going on since I can form a memory. Death and destruction making the news, and becoming common place to us all. Looking at our diplomats discuss these horrible events and they don’t seem visibly disturbed at all. I know its their jobs to be calm and collected, but damn it, people are dying everywhere and I just don’t know what to say anymore. It’s like being a priest who has to tell a family why God allowed their parents to die to early and in a horrible way too. Anger towards God for allowing it to happen is the alternative to good logic, that would say shit simply does happens.
Psychologists (Psychiatry Times) tell us that during and since the pandemic 1st struck the publics attitude towards illness, death and perceived destruction have changed. Less emotion is invested in a persons social perception of loss, be it personal ,business or national in scope. People are far more distant from events, especially horrible historic events, and misinformation and social media applications introduce the public to far off concepts and easy answers to some very deep personal questions like death of a loved one-how-why-responsibility. How can I deal with obviously significant loss?
Reality has been distorted and logic often does not have a key position in decision making anymore. Death is something many of us fear. But the often caviler attitudes people have regarding the wholesale slaughter of many people seems unfathomable. One death, especially a personal loss, people can perhaps understand, but tens of thousands becomes more difficult to imagine. The mental issues people are facing is in fact real and challenging to us all. Perhaps the only thing we can all do is be human, and listen, learn and comfort others in need.
Selena Gomez is recorded saying “if you are broken, you simply do not need to stay broken”. A little help from others will certainly not hurt. If the death of many people outrages you, be outraged. Speak up, be logically emotional and talk about it. Reality bites, but only if you do not understand it. Grief is an expression of love after all.
If the world is in shambles and you cannot cope, concentrate upon your mental health issues, your family as well. Think small, not to say unimportant but surely manageable.. Think about your own local concerns and never fear of asking for help.
FORT NELSON, B.C. – Police in northeastern British Columbia say they’re searching for a man who has failed to return from a 10-day camping trip in a remote provincial park.
RCMP say Sam Benastick’s family reported him missing on Saturday, after he didn’t come home from the trip to Redfern-Keily Park, located about 250 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John.
They say Benastick started his hike on Oct. 7, his last update to his family was the following day, and he was supposed to return last Thursday.
The Mounties say Benastick is an avid hiker and camper, and he left on the trip with a tarp, a black Osprey backpack with red strings and other supplies.
They say “extensive resources” have been deployed to find him, including search and rescue personnel and the RCMP police dog services unit.
Anyone with information or who has visited the Redfern-Keily Park area since Oct. 7 is asked to contact the Northern Rockies RCMP detachment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
KITCHENER, Ont. – A sentencing hearing is underway for a man who pleaded guilty to four charges in the stabbing of a professor and two students in a University of Waterloo gender studies class.
Geovanny Villalba-Aleman pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, one count of assault with a weapon and one count of assault causing bodily harm in June, roughly a year after the attack.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada says those offences constitute terrorist activity in his case.
An agreed statement of facts previously read in court said Villalba-Aleman told police he carried out the attack because he believed post-secondary institutions were “forcing ideology” on people.
It said he told police he went into the gender studies class because of the subject matter being taught and specifically targeted the professor.
The former University of Waterloo student, who was 24 at the time of the attack, initially faced 11 charges.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
