Canada braces for first hurricane to make landfall in nine years
Dorian strengthens to a Category 2 storm with 100MPH winds and topples a crane in Halifax as Canada prepares for its first hurricane in nine YEARS after tracking across US East Coast having already battered the Carolinas
- Hurricane Dorian is scheduled to make landfall near Halifax, Nova Scotia at around 7pm Eastern time on Saturday
- Dorian strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane with winds exceeding 100 miles per hour
- Canadian authorities say that hundreds of thousands of residents in the Atlantic provinces were without power due to wind gusts and rain
- Dorian’s outer bands started lashing southern New Brunswick and mainland Nova Scotia with strong winds and heavy rain
- The last hurricanes to make landfall in Canada were Hurricane Igor and Hurricane Earl in September, 2010
Skies cleared and floodwaters receded Saturday from North Carolina’s Outer Banks, leaving behind a muddy trail of destruction wrought by Hurricane Dorian – as the powerful storm barreled towards New England and Nova Scotia.
Hundreds of thousands of residents in Atlantic Canada were without power as Dorian, which regained strength to a Category 2, prepared to make landfall near Halifax later Saturday evening.
The Canadian Hurricane Center says the storm will unleash a heavier barrage of torrential rain, pounding surf and howling winds.
Waves crash into boats long the waterfront in Halifax on Saturday as Hurricane Dorian approaches
Two Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers speak to visitors at Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse before Dorian’s arrival in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia on Saturday
Megan Woodhouse takes a photograph using her phone from inside the Sou’Wester during the arrival of Hurricane Dorian in Peggy’s Cove
A worker removes a fallen tree blocking a road in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia as Hurricane Dorian approaches on Saturday
Dorian strengthened Saturday to a Category 2 storm with 100 mph winds, up from 85 mph, a strengthening that raised it from a Category 1 to a Category 2 storm.
Canadian Hurricane Center meteorologist Ian Hubbard told The Associated Press that Dorian is expected to weaken and make landfall near Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a Category 1 hurricane.
The last Category 2 hurricane to hit Canada was Hurricane Juan in 2003.
The outer bands of Dorian started lashing Canada’s southern New Brunswick and mainland Nova Scotia with strong winds and heavy rain.
Winds exceeding 55 mph have already been reported in parts of southwestern Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick.
Forecasters say the storm is likely to uproot trees and bring the possibility of flash flooding, as well as likely power outages.
Dorian was expected to move across central or eastern Nova Scotia late Saturday afternoon or early evening, pass near or over Prince Edward Island late Saturday, and then move to Newfoundland and Labrador on Sunday.
Wind gusts were so strong that a construction crane collapsed in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Saturday. Footage of the crane collapse was captured on amateur cell phone video
Canadian officials prepared for the possibility of flooding, wash-outs and storm surges.
The city of Halifax asked those along the shoreline to consider other accommodations until the storm leaves the region.
Hurricanes in Canada are somewhat rare in part because once the storms reach colder Canadian waters, they lose their main source of energy.
Hubbard said the last hurricanes to make landfall in Canada were Hurricane Igor and Hurricane Earl in September, 2010.
While tropical-storm force winds buffeted southeastern Massachusetts and could sweep into Maine later Saturday, hurricane-force winds are unlikely to pose any threat to land in the U.S.
Dorian’s worst damage in the U.S. appeared to be on Ocracoke Island, which even in good weather is accessible only by boat or air and is popular with tourists for its undeveloped beaches.
Longtime residents who hunkered down to wait out the storm described strong but manageable winds followed by a wall of water that flooded the first floors of many homes and forced some to await rescue from their attics.
Dorian is expected to make landfall near Halifax, Nova Scotia as 7pm Eastern Standard Time on Saturday
Strong wind gusts were reported from Atlantic Canada in the north all the way down to New England on Saturday
Hurricane and tropical storm warnings are in effect for the coastal regions of Nova Scotia on Saturday
Meteorologists expect Dorian to dump torrential rains while bringing strong wind gusts to Atlantic Canada on Saturday
The above map shows the path Dorian is expected to take across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick this weekend
Forecasters say Atlantic Canada can expect to see up to three inches of rainfall this weekend
‘We’re used to cleaning up dead limbs and trash that’s floating around,’ said Ocracoke Island resident and business owner Philip Howard.
‘But now it’s everything: picnic tables, doors, lumber that’s been floating around.’
Howard said by phone Saturday that flooding at his properties on the North Carolina island is 13 inches higher than the levels wrought by a storm in 1944, which he said had long been considered the worst.
He raised his home higher than the 1944 flood level and still got water inside.
‘It’s overwhelming,’ said Howard, who owns the Village Craftsmen, a store that sells handcrafted pottery, glass and kitchen items.
He said much of the merchandise on the lower shelves is ruined. Pieces of pottery were floating around inside.
Inside his house, the floorboards were buckling and curling up after being warped by the water, he said.
Gov. Roy Cooper said about 800 people had remained on the island to wait out Dorian and it appeared to be the hardest hit.
The storm made landfall Friday morning over the Outer Banks as a far weaker storm than the monster that devastated the Bahamas.
Yet despite having been downgraded to a Category 1 storm, it still sent seawater surging over neighborhoods on Ocracoke.
More than 1,100 Bahamians arrived in Palm Beach, Florida, after being evacuated by cruise ship from their hurricane-battered islands.
The Grand Celebration cruise ship returned to its home port after setting sail Thursday for Freeport, Grand Bahama, to deliver more than 112 tons of supplies and ferry dozens of health workers and emergency crews.
As it approached Canada on Saturday, Dorian was again picking up strength.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the maximum sustained winds had increased to 100 mph from 85 mph, raising it from a Category 1 to a Category 2 storm.
Utility poles were shipped after Hurricane Dorian moved through the area yesterday along a causeway in Nags Head, North Carolina on Saturday
Waves continue to pound the Avalon pier after a large portion of the pier was washed away by Hurricane Dorian which moved through the area Friday in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina on Saturday
A utility worker walks through downed power lines along a causeway in Nags Head, North Carolina on Saturday
In North Carolina, the governor said officials were aware of no serious injuries on the Outer Banks from the storm
A fuel truck boards the Swan Quarter Ferry in Swan Quarter, North Carolina with other emergency response vehicles, generators and supplies headed to Ocracoke on Saturday
A North Carolina National Guard truck is loaded onto the Swan Quarter Ferry in Swan Quarter on Saturday
An image made with a drone shows damage to the roof of the Mariner Hotel the morning after Hurricane Dorian struck Kill Devil Hills on Saturday
The Category 1 storm struck the fragile barrier islands for much of the day, and tore off the end of the Avalon Pier
North Carolina Division of highways crews work to clear the beach road to Hatteras Island on Saturday
In North Carolina, the governor said officials were aware of no serious injuries on the Outer Banks from the storm.
People in need of temporary housing were being taken to a shelter on the mainland, said Cooper, who added that points farther north along the Outer Banks also received damage from Dorian.
About 200 people were in shelters and 57,000 without power as of mid-day Saturday, according to the governor’s office.
Emergency officials transported fuel trucks, generators, food and water to Okracoke.
‘We just thought it was gonna be a normal blow,’ Steve Harris, a semi-retired contractor, said Friday.
‘But the damage is going to be severe this time. This is flooding of biblical proportions.’
Harris lost his car to the storm and his air conditioner is damaged, but he said he’s blessed that his condominium is on the third floor and he is insured.
Of the 11 units in his complex, seven had water in them, he said.
The U.S. Coast Guard began landing local law enforcement officers on the island Friday by helicopter and airlifting out the sick, elderly and others in distress, Hyde County authorities said.
Officers were doing door-to-door checks and offering water and food to residents, according to the sheriff’s office.
Police officers in Beaufort, North Carolina check a sailboat for occupants after Hurricane Dorian passed the North Carolina coast on Friday
Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department chief Albert O’Neal, in blue shirt, boats down Sunset Drive on his way to seek out islanders stranded in their flooded homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian on Friday
Fred Lenihan carries Ollie, a six-year-old Sheltie, through floodwaters in Larchmont after Hurricane Dorian brought heavy wind and rain to Norfolk, Virginia on Friday
Eric Young stand-up paddleboards through flooded streets in Larchmont with his daughter, Emily Ruth, 5, after Hurricane Dorian brought heavy wind and rain to Norfolk on Friday
Wood debris is left scattered across the Nags Head beach in the Outer Banks, North Carolina as the sun sets on Friday
Azalea Sowers, 7, and Isak Asmundsson, 7, sit in the middle of Mowbray Arch in Norfolk, which flooded as a result of the storms caused by Hurricane Dorian on Friday
Kids kayak through the flooded streets near the corner of Mowbray Arch and Botetourt Street after the storms caused by Hurricane Dorian on Friday
Connie Leinbach, who publishes the Ocracoke Observer newspaper, said sheriff’s deputies and other rescue personnel made at least two rescues from attics.
She said the Coast Guard was called in to help a man who was having problems with his oxygen.
At least four deaths in the Southeast were blamed on Dorian. All were men in Florida or North Carolina who died in falls or by electrocution while trimming trees, putting up storm shutters or otherwise getting ready for the hurricane.
North Carolina’s governor on Saturday urged returning residents to be vigilant, as many of the injuries and deaths from previous storms happened during the cleanup process.
As Dorian closed in, more than a quarter-million residents and visitors were ordered to evacuate the Outer Banks, which stick out from the Eastern Seaboard like the sideview mirror on a car.
But many just tied down their boats, removed objects that could blow away from their yards, and hunkered down.
Dorian slammed the Bahamas at the start of the week with 185 mph winds, killing at least 43 people and obliterating countless homes.
From there, it swept past Florida and Georgia, then sideswiped the Carolinas on Thursday, spinning off tornadoes that peeled away roofs and flipped recreational vehicles.
Still, the damage was far less than feared in many parts of the Carolinas, including historic Charleston, South Carolina, which is prone to flooding even from ordinary storms, and Wilmington, North Carolina, the state’s biggest coastal city.
Ocracoke resident and restaurant owner Jason Wells said he lost three vehicles and a golf cart to floodwaters, and he has $5,000 worth of food in a freezer on an island that still lacks power.
He said by text message Saturday that he and family members were already bleaching and disinfecting their houses, but he feared weeks could pass before electricity returned to most houses because of wiring problems caused by floodwaters.
‘We are a close knit community. We will power on,’ Wells wrote.
‘We will persevere. We are family. Time to get to work.’
Source: Read Full Article