The town of Port aux Basques is allowing some residents to go back and check on their homes beginning this afternoon.

He says some residents will be able to go check on their homes. However, he says amenities such as power, water, and sewer may not be available.

He says a checkpoint will be set up near Colemans for people to present themselves before entering.

There are some areas of town, however, that remain inaccessible.

There are five areas: Water Street East, Charles Street, Knox Avenue, Clements Crescent, and Feltham Avenue. He says it will be “quite lengthy” before people can return to some of those areas.

Extent of Damage

Meanwhile, the full extent of the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Fiona is becoming more clear.

Mayor Button describes the damage as being “worse than you could ever imagine.”

Entire houses were lost to the sea in the area. One woman was reportedly swept out to sea and search efforts are ongoing. A second woman also ended up in the water when her house collapsed, she was recovered and transported to hospital.

Mayor Button says yesterday was a bad day while everything was happening, and today is the reality of going and seeing it, noting that “it’s a mess, it’s a warzone.”

Button stresses that the town is still under a state of emergency. He says people are out and about trying to take pictures of the destruction, which is something he advises against as they need to let responders do their jobs.

“It’s as if a missile has struck this place” says Button. For responders to do their work, he says people need to realise that this isn’t a few homes that have been lost, this is a “total tragedy.”

Burgeo Update

The mayor of Burgeo says one home in that community is a total loss after a large boulder struck the house during the storm.

Mayor Bill Bowles says luckily no one was injured in the frightening incident.

He says it appears that a large two-ton boulder struck the foundation of the home, which caused severe damage and allowed more water to get inside, destroying the interior of the home.

Bowles says three or four other homes sustained damage but can be repaired. However, he does note that several sheds and fishing stages were washed away.

Corner Brook Update

Corner Brook mayor Jim Parsons says the city was spared a lot of damage.

He explains they barely got any rain, but the wind was an issue.

He says some trees came, particularly Saturday afternoon, resulting in some power outages.