Atlantic Canada is battening down the hatches as Hurricane Fiona powers her way up the Atlantic Ocean.
The track of the storm is becoming clearer each day, and it is looking as though the storm, which is currently a Category 4 hurricane, will make landfall in either Nova Scotia or southern Newfoundland sometime on Saturday.
While it is still too far out to nail down wind speeds or rainfall amounts, Environment Canada predicts the “large and potent” storm will be far-reaching, affecting the entire island of Newfoundland and parts of Labrador, as well as all the other Atlantic provinces and parts of Quebec in one way or another. The west and southwest coasts of Newfoundland will bear the brunt with heavy and potentially damaging winds.
The storm recently battered Puerto Rico, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The Canadian Hurricane Centre will give us an update at about 9:30 a.m. NDT.
(File photo)
Newfoundland Power says it’s “all hands on deck” as the power utility monitors the progress of Hurricane Fiona.
Newfoundland Power says crews and support teams, strategically located across the province, are ready to respond as safely and quickly as possible if needed.
Newfoundland Power is also asking customers to prepare as much as possible by ensuring they have an emergency kit on hand and that all their devices are charged. They’re encouraging people to sign up for Outage Alerts to get updates direct to their phone or email on outages in their area.
Customers can also contact Newfoundland Power 24/7 by visiting their website or calling the outage line at 1-800-474-5711.
Via @Trepassey_NL on Twitter
The MHA for Ferryland District is watching very closely the track being taken by Hurricane Fiona as the Category 4 storm heads north towards Newfoundland.
Storm surge from the remnants of Hurricane Earl last week smashed through the breakwater at Trepassey, temporarily cutting the lower coast off from the rest of the community, and leaving the town exposed and vulnerable to the fury of the ocean.
Loyola O’Driscoll says work on repairing the damaged done to the breakwater last year during Hurricane Larry should have been completed before this. Had it been, the breakwater might not have incurred such heavy damage from Earl.
He says last year’s tender won’t cover all the work needed thanks to last week’s damage, so more money will be needed to cover the costs to have the breakwater properly built and repaired.
