After the storm: residents of Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec survey the damage

A day after Post-Tropical Storm Fiona left a trail of destruction across Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec, residents of a coastal town in western Newfoundland continued to remove debris scattered across their community, easily the most damaged area. region of.

Photos released Sunday from Port aux Basques show houses and outbuildings wrecked or submerged on the shoreline, the result of an unprecedented storm surge that inundated a residential neighborhood.

Mayor Brian Button said the damage to the city of 4,000 people was worse than previously thought.

“The weather may have cleared up, but the situation hasn’t cleared up at all,” he said via Facebook. “This is not a day; we can all get back to normal. Unfortunately, this will take days, it could take weeks, it could take months in some places.”

As Fiona descended on the city on Saturday, producing gusts of 130 kilometers per hour, police received reports that two women had been swept into the ocean as their homes collapsed under the weight of the encroaching storm surge. One woman was rescued by local residents, but the condition of the second woman was unclear.

The RCMP confirmed on Sunday that they are looking for a 73-year-old woman.

“The woman was last seen inside the residence moments before a wave hit the house and ripped out a portion of the basement,” the RCMP said in a statement. “She hasn’t been seen since.”

Meanwhile, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston was expected to survey some of the worst-hit areas of Cape Breton, where Fiona’s wrath left many homes badly damaged.

Despite downed trees and widespread power outages, some Cape Breton residents decided to continue with major events on Sunday.

Samantha Murphy, 35, said she was going to continue with her wedding at a church in central Sydney, followed by a reception meal.

prepared by a provider with a generator.

Sitting in a hotel lobby with her three bridesmaids, she was wrapping flower arrangements and waiting for her hairdresser to arrive while contemplating the impact of Fiona’s brief but unwanted visit.

“I think it’s going to be more romantic by candlelight,” he said in an interview. “We will go back to when there was no electricity. Our family is here and let’s celebrate our love.”

Murphy said she was determined to go ahead with the wedding ceremony on Sunday after the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to cancel earlier plans.

At Reserve Mines, about 15 kilometers east of Sydney, Darren MacKinnon was cutting down fallen trees, some of which had fallen on nearby homes.

“Glace Bay and Reserve Mines feel like a war zone,” he said of the two Cape Breton communities. “Houses with roofs ripped off, trees down… I know Cape Bretons will help their friends and family as much as they can.”

George MacDonald, a former Cape Breton Regional Municipality councilor, said five trees fell on his home as the storm raged.

“We’re lucky in a way,” he said. “The windows stayed. Maybe the positive is that the trees fell on the house and protected the windows.”

Two doors down, neighbor Reggie Boutilier lost part of his roof and his shed was trashed.

“The wind was really strong coming through here,” the 67-year-old tech worker said as he prepared to install plastic siding. “I was peaking out of the house all night. The force was unbelievable.”

On the north coast of Prince Edward Island, another area devastated by Fiona, lobster buyer Leigh Misener pointed to what was once his office on Covehead Wharf.

On Sunday morning, he was lying face down about two miles away in a front garden.

“That’s our building,” Misener said with a smile. “Visit us whenever you want.”

Despite his wry humor, he said it was heartbreaking to see the destruction. The wharf is now an ugly sight of shattered buildings and churned up earth, as if an earthquake were shaking the place. Where buildings once stood, there is now a foundation filled with weights used for lobster traps and an anchor sitting in the rubble.

“The whole dock is gone,” Misener said. “Everyone is going to suffer for it.”

Judy Profitt, who lives a few miles away in Brackley Beach, pointed out the Covehead Bridge and a now-missing landmark: a small dune that once stood next to the bridge.

“It’s my favorite dune, but it just got cut down,” Profitt said, his voice cracking with emotion.

“I had taken a picture of that dune. After my husband died, (it was) laser engraved on his tombstone. Looking at that dune now, it’s such a sad sight.”

In eastern Quebec, officials were heading to the storm-battered Iles-de-la-Madeleine island chain, where high winds and storm surges caused flooding and road closures.

Provincial Public Safety Minister Genevieve Guilbault confirmed that 30 to 40 people were forced from their homes, but no one was injured.

“We are going to go into recovery mode,” he told reporters in Quebec City.

Guilbault said one of the two undersea telecommunications cables linking the islands to the mainland, called COGIM 1, was damaged by Fiona, but said the other remained intact.

Guilbault said the Quebec government has worked hard to lessen the impact of storms made worse by climate change, saying millions of dollars have been spent to slow coastal erosion.

“Because it is an island, the problem is quite chronic around the island and in eastern Quebec in general,” he said.

As for Fiona, the major storm moved into southeastern Quebec on Sunday, and Environment Canada said it will continue to weaken as it moves across southeastern Labrador and over the Labrador Sea.


— With files from Michael Tutton in Sydney, NS, Hina Alam in Covehead, PEI, and Morgan Lowrie in Montreal.


This report from The Canadian Press was first published on September 25, 2022.

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