Hurricane Fiona wreaks havoc in Canada

The coastal town of Port aux Basques in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador was badly affected, where several houses were torn away by high waves. The police had previously instructed residents to leave the danger zones. The town’s mayor, Brian Button, spoke of a “war zone” in a Facebook video. There were images of destruction everywhere.

Also in the province of Nova Scotia, the storm covered roofs, collapsed power poles and trees and flooded streets. Nova Scotia Prime Minister Tim Houston spoke of an “incredible number” of downed trees on Saturday afternoon (local time). Almost three quarters of the residents are without electricity. Houston said it was too early to estimate the extent of the damage. According to the website Poweroutage.com, more than 400,000 customers in the affected provinces were without power on Saturday evening (local time).

As a so-called post-tropical storm, “Fiona” hit land in Nova Scotia early on Saturday morning (local time) with wind speeds of up to 148 kilometers per hour, as the Canadian hurricane center announced. Due to climate change, there are not more tropical cyclones per year overall, but there are more powerful and destructive such storms.

“Fiona” passed the British overseas territory of Bermuda on Friday as a hurricane in the second strongest category. “Fiona” made landfall in Puerto Rico last weekend as a category one of five hurricane, causing flooding and severe damage.

Meanwhile, the next strong storm has already formed in the Caribbean. He was christened “Ian” and was traveling in the central Caribbean on Saturday with sustained wind speeds of up to 75 kilometers per hour, as the US hurricane center NHC announced. “Ian” is expected to gain strength and become a hurricane late Sunday (local time) or Monday night near the Cayman Islands.

The tropical storm is expected to pass Jamaica on Sunday and approach the Cayman Islands and western Cuba. The expected large amounts of rain could cause flash floods.

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