- One person is missing after Storm Fiona hit Canada’s east coast, leaving widespread damage.
Downed power lines and houses washed out to sea are some of the consequences left by storm Fiona after passing through the east coast of Canada.
Local media report that a woman is missing after the storm dragged her out to sea on the island of Newfoundland.
Fiona was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Friday.
Such weather events are rare in Canada and, according to police, the weather event “is unlike anything we have ever seen.”
Parts of five Canadian provinces experienced torrential rain and winds of up to 160 km/h, causing widespread flooding and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would deploy the military to help clean up Nova Scotia.
“If there is anything that the federal government can do to help, we will be there,” guaranteed the president, who also reported that he would cancel his trip to Japan in which he planned to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to deal with the aftermath of the storm.
“A lot of debris in the ocean”
In the Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and New Brunswick, as well as parts of Quebec, tropical storm warnings were issued.
In the small town of Channel-Port-aux-Basques, on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, intense flooding caused some homes and office buildings to be swept out to sea, local journalist Rene Roy reported on state television CBC. The area is under a state of emergency.
“This is without a doubt the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Roy said.
The journalist also added that many houses were left as “a pile of rubble in the ocean at this time.”
“There is an apartment building that is literally gone. There are entire streets that are gone.”
Authorities later confirmed that at least 20 houses had been destroyed.
The Canadian Mounted Police said a woman was rescued after being “thrown into the water when her house collapsed” in the area.
Power companies have warned it could take days to restore power as wind speeds remain too high to start work on downed power lines.
Strong hurricanes in Canada are rare, as storms typically lose their energy once they hit cooler waters to the north and become post-tropical.
Nova Scotia was last hit by a tropical cyclone in 2003 with Hurricane Juan, a category two storm that killed two people and severely damaged structures and vegetation.