Winds produced by the remnants of Hurricane Dorian tore roofs off
buildings, downed trees, collapsed a construction crane and left
hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in three provinces
in Canada on Saturday.
A storm surge accompanying Dorian produced waves estimated to be 50
feet high, jeopardizing coastal villages. Online maps posted by
utilities in Nova Scotia and the neighbouring provinces of New
Brunswick and Prince Edward Island showed that more than 450,000
locations were without electricity on early Saturday evening, the
result of wires being knocked down by intense winds before the storm
made landfall.
As the winds began inflicting damage in Canada, the storm was upgraded
to a Category 2 by hurricane tracking services in both Canada and the
United States. But by Saturday afternoon they declared that Dorian was
no longer a hurricane but a very intense post-tropical system. That
aside, Environment Canada, the country’s weather agency, reported that
its offshore weather buoys were recording winds of more than 90 miles
an hour and waves as high as 65 feet.
Along with the winds, forecasts predict that many areas will get as
much rain over the next 24 hours as they receive in a month in the
often damp maritime region.
No injuries were reported. But even before the storm made landfall in
Nova Scotia, large numbers of trees were uprooted or broken apart.
Along with the pieces of roofs, they damaged power lines, houses and
parked cars.
Most dramatically, a construction crane at a high-rise building
project in downtown Halifax buckled and collapsed after being buffeted
by the winds. Adjacent buildings, while undamaged, were evacuated as a
precaution.
In a statement, Ralph Goodale, Canada’s public safety minister, said
that the federal government would provide recovery assistance,
including the use of the military. Restoring electricity, however,
would likely be delayed. Karen Huff, the chief of Nova Scotia Power,
said that the high winds made it too dangerous on Sunday night for the
utility’s crews to work on damaged or destroyed power lines.
