Parts of eastern Canada were waking up to damage from powerful storm Fiona on Sunday, as meteorologists said the worst weather had passed.
The storm tore into Nova Scotia and Newfoundland on Saturday, cutting power to thousands and washing houses into the sea as it brought fierce winds and rains “like nothing we’ve ever seen,” police said.
Two women were swept into the ocean in Newfoundland, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. One was rescued, and investigators were looking into the second case.
Mayor Brian Button of Channel-Port aux Basques, on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, said in a Facebook video Saturday night that at least 20 homes had been destroyed and the community looked like a “total warzone.”
“We’ve got destruction everywhere.”
A boil water order was in effect, Button said, encouraging residents in need to take shelter at a local elementary school.
As of late Saturday afternoon, nearly 500,000 homes were without power across the region as the storm hammered a wide area, felling countless trees and ripping roofs from buildings.
“The power lines are down everywhere,” Erica Fleck, assistant chief of Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency, told CBC. “It’s not safe to be on the roads.”
Although downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, Fiona still packed hurricane-force winds of 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour as it first barreled into Canada after earlier battering the Caribbean, according to meteorologists.
By early Sunday, the storm’s maximum sustained winds had slowed to 50 mph, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC), with the government forecasting “strong winds” over northern Newfoundland, southeastern Labrador, and southeastern Quebec.
“These winds will diminish later today,” the CHC said.
