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Fiona makes landfall in Canada, immediately breaks records

The Canadian Hurricane Centre said Fiona is the lowest pressured land-falling storm on record in Canada.

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The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press

Francis Bruhm, project manager for general contractor G&R Kelly, places sandbags around the doors of the Nova Scotia Power building before the arrival of Hurricane Fiona Sept. 23, 2022.
Francis Bruhm, project manager for general contractor G&R Kelly, places sandbags around the doors of the Nova Scotia Power building before the arrival of Hurricane Fiona Sept. 23, 2022. Photo by INGRID BULMER /REUTERS

Post-tropical storm Fiona arrived in Nova Scotia early Saturday morning, with the U.S. National Hurricane Center saying the centre made landfall on the Canso Peninsula near Hart Island and Guysborough.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre tweeted early Saturday that Fiona is the lowest pressured land-falling storm on record in Canada.

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Hydro-Québec reported shortly before 6 a.m. that 1,476 customers in Îles-de-la-Madeleine were without power. In Gaspésie, 1,810 Hydro-Québec customers were also without power, mainly in the Rocher-Percé and MRC d’Avignon sectors.

CAQ Leader François Legault and Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois suspended their Quebec election campaigns Friday night as Fiona was bearing down on Quebec, including Îles-de-la-Madeleine. Quebec Liberal Party Leader Dominique Anglade said Friday she was contact with the other political parties and evaluating what to do next.

Early Friday, the hurricane centre said Fiona was expected to pass through Cape Breton in the morning, and then reach Quebec’s lower north shore and southeastern Labrador by late evening.

The storm knocked out power to more than 500,000 customers in the Maritimes early Saturday, with most of the damage reported in eastern Nova Scotia, across P.E.I. and Cape Breton.

Widespread gusts between 90 and 120 km/h have been reported over Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Îles-de-la-Madeleine, and southwestern Newfoundland, with a peak gusts to 161 km/h over Beaver Island, N.S.

Parts of eastern mainland Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have recorded 75 to 125 mm of rainfall.

The “historic” storm was forecast to bring between 100 to 200 millimetres of rain across much of Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec, with more than 200 millimetres expected to fall in areas closer to the storm’s path.

Storm surge warnings are in effect for most of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, southwestern Newfoundland, eastern Nova Scotia and the East Coast of New Brunswick, with waves possibly surpassing 12 metres in eastern portions of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Cabot Strait.

Coastal flooding remains a threat for parts of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island including the Northumberland Strait, the Gulf of St. Lawrence region including Îles-de-la-Madeleine and eastern New Brunswick, southwest Newfoundland, St. Lawrence Estuary and Quebec’s Lower North Shore.

Hurricane and tropical storm warnings are in effect for most areas, along with wind and rainfall warnings from the Atlantic Storm Prediction Centre.

The hurricane centre said conditions will improve over western Nova Scotia and eastern New Brunswick later in the day, but will persist elsewhere.