Storm Fiona Lifted Houses Into Sea In Canada: ‘The Most Terrifying Thing I’ve Ever Seen In My Life’

Fiona was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Friday. Such weather events are rare in Canada, and police said the storm was unlike “anything we’ve ever seen.”

The military has been sent to Nova Scotia to help clean up storm-hit areas.

Parts of five Canadian provinces were hit by torrential rain and winds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h), with widespread flooding. Hundreds of thousands of people were left without electricity.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the military would be deployed to Nova Scotia, adding, “If there’s anything the federal government can do to help, we’ll be there.” He said he would no longer travel to Japan to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to deal with the aftermath of the storm.

Tropical storm warnings were issued for the Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and New Brunswick, as well as parts of Quebec.

In Port aux Basques, population 4,067, on Newfoundland’s southwestern tip, flooding took several homes and office buildings and washed them out to sea, local journalist Rene Roy told the CBC . The area is in a state of emergency. “This is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Roy said.

He added that many houses ended up “a pile of rubble in the ocean, right now,” adding: “There’s an apartment building that’s literally gone. There are whole streets that have disappeared.” Authorities later confirmed that at least 20 homes were lost.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said a woman was rescued after being “thrown into the water as her house collapsed” in the area. Another report of a woman being pulled from the basement was provided by police, but conditions remained too dangerous to conduct a search and see if there were any other people there.

Power companies have warned it could take days to restore power as wind speeds remain too high to begin work on downed power lines.

Severe hurricanes are rare in Canada because storms normally lose energy once they reach cooler northern waters and become sub-tropical storms instead.

Nova Scotia was last hit by a tropical cyclone in 2003, Hurricane Juan, a Category 2 storm that killed two people and severely damaged structures and vegetation.

Fiona had already wreaked havoc in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic earlier this week, with many residents there still without power or running water.

Florida also faces a hurricane threat as Tropical Storm Ian strengthened as it moved across the Caribbean on Saturday. It could approach Florida early next week as a major hurricane.


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