One of the strongest storms ever to slam Canada ripped through its eastern seaboard before devastating Nova Scotia’s coastline Saturday, with gusty winds and heavy rains that left hundreds of thousands of people without power.
As former Hurricane Fiona was in the midst of being reclassified as a post-tropical cyclone — a rare weather event for Canada — Florida was bracing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Ian.
Ian was strengthening in the eastern Caribbean Saturday, and forecasters said it could be a Category 3 hurricane by the time it reaches Cuba, then Florida in the coming days, the Miami Herald reported.
The National Hurricane Center has called for a landfall sometime Wednesday near Sarasota.
Fox Weather meteorologist Greg Diamond said the storm was shifting further west as of Saturday afternoon, adding “it is becoming increasingly unlikely that Ian will make a landfall in southwest Florida” and that storm will likely move ashore in the Tampa area. He also said “tropical storm conditions are forecast to spread across the west coast of Florida starting Wednesday with landfall Thursday, or perhaps Friday, depending on how far west the storm tracks.”
No matter where Ian hits, heavy rain and winds are expected to swamp the state throughout next week.
Waves pound the shore in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia. APDiamond said Ian may eventually bring some rain to New York next weekend, but it isn’t expected to be any serious downpours in the northeast.
Concerns over the tropical storm led NASA officials to forgo its third launch attempt of the Artemis I mega moon rocket, which had been set for Tuesday at Cape Canaveral in Florida, according to CNN. It’s unclear when the rocket will lift off.
Here’s everything to know about Hurricane Ian:
Florida officials have urged residents in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties to complete storm preparations by Monday night. The Keys were expected to decide later Saturday whether to call for evacuations.
Ian grew more violent overnight Friday into Saturday, sparking 45 mph winds by Saturday afternoon. It was about 250 miles south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, which was under a tropical storm watch.
A Canadian flag waves in the high winds in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. APForecasters also said wind shear leftover from Fiona and other unfavorable weather conditions were expected to dissipate over the weekend in Florida, allowing Ian to become more powerful.
In Canada, more than 414,000 Nova Scotia Power customers — about 80% of the province of almost 1 million — had no power Saturday. Another 82,000 customers in the province of Prince Edward Island were also in the dark, while NB Power in New Brunswick reported 44,329 were without electricity.
The Canadian Hurricane Centre tweeted that Fiona has the lowest pressure ever recorded for a storm making landfall in Canada. Forecasters said it could be one of the most powerful storms to hit the country.
A sailboat lies washed up on shore following the passing of Hurricane Fiona. REUTERSA state of local emergency has been declared by the mayor and council of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality amid widespread power outages, road closures and damage to homes.
“There are homes that have been significantly damaged due to downed trees, big old trees falling down and causing significant damage. We’re also seeing houses that their roofs have completely torn off, windows breaking in. There is a huge amount of debris in the roadways,” said Amanda McDougall, mayor of Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
Because of the storm, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided to delay his trip to Japan for the funeral for assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Fallen trees lean against a house in Sydney, Nova Scotia as post tropical storm Fiona batters the Maritimes. APFiona had maximum sustained winds of 90 mph Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said.
Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 175 miles from the center and tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 405 miles, the center added.
Hurricanes in Canada are somewhat rare, in part because once the storms reach colder waters, they lose their main source of energy. But post-tropical cyclones can have hurricane-strength winds.
“Just an incredibly strong storm as it made landfall. And even as it moves away it is continuing to affect the region for several more hours today,” said Ian Hubbard, meteorologist for the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Residents walk past trees and powerlines were downed on MacDonald Street following the passing of Hurricane Fiona. REUTERS“The talk of a historical storm definitely looks like it’s shaping up to be true.”
Fiona has already been linked to at least five deaths — two in Puerto Rico, two in the Dominican Republic and one in the French island of Guadeloupe.
