The country has issued several weather alerts for most of its oriental ribs.
Le Monde with AFP
Hurricane Fiona reached the Atlantic Coast of Canada on Saturday, September 24, in the morning. The weather services were preparing for a storm qualified as “historic”, after having sown dead and destruction in its path in the Caribbean.
According to the National Center for American Hurricane (NHC), Fiona has reached the province of Nova Scotia (eastern Canada) with winds over 144 kilometers. “Fiona should affect parties of Atlantic Canada today as a powerful cyclone having the strength of a hurricane and significant impacts are expected due to the strong winds, the storm wave and the heavy rains,” added the NHC. Canada has issued several weather alerts for most of its eastern coasts.
At 11 a.m. French time, the hurricane was located about 210 kilometers from Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, and advanced north and northwest at a speed of 65 kilometers-hour, According to the Canadian Hurricane forecasting center (CCPO). The latter had previously estimated that the hurricane “should be a violent weather event for Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec”. Fiona should become a very intense post-tropical storm after having touched earth, producing very strong rain and strong winds as well as big waves.
“Where he will rank in history books, we will have to determine it after the facts, but it will certainly be a historic and extreme event for eastern Canada,” said on Friday at a conference Press Bob Robichaud, Meteorologist within the CCPO, qualifying Fiona as a “major” hurricane.
provisions for at least seventy hours
The authorities of the Province of Nova Scotia have warned the inhabitants of future power cuts, asked them to stay inside the dwellings and to have enough provisions for at least seventy hours. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recommended that all inhabitants “take good precautions”.
The Hurricane Fiona passed, Friday, in category four on the scale of Saffir -Simpson – which has four – some 160 kilometers off the Bermuda, after having sown destruction in the Caribbean. The hurricane has inflicted gusts at 160 kilometers-hour and violent rains on this British territory of some 64,000 inhabitants located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but without any victim or major damage being reported.
According to the Belco electricity supplier, 15,000 of the 36,000 households remained without current on Friday afternoon in Bermuda, but electricity was quickly restored in many areas.
residents posted on social networks images of floods and current lines that have fallen to the ground. The territory, located 1,000 kilometers from the United States and accustomed to hurricanes, is one of the most isolated places in the world, which makes any evacuation almost impossible in an emergency. The main island had therefore taken the preparations seriously. Buildings and houses must also respect strict construction rules to resist storms.
Fiona caused the death of four people to Puerto Rico, American territory, according to an official quoted by the media. A death was declared in Guadeloupe (France) and two in the Dominican Republic.