(CNN) — Hurricane Fiona, now known as the Post-Tropical Cyclone, made landfall in Nova Scotia and crossed Canada’s Atlantic coast early Saturday in what could be a “historic” weather event for the country.
According to the Canadian Hurricane Center, an unofficial barometric pressure of 931.6 mb was recorded over Hart Island, which would make Fiona the lowest-pressure landfalling hurricane on record in Canada. Wind observations were recorded at 152 km/h (94 mph) over Beaver Island in eastern Nova Scotia.
Parts of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island began to feel the approach of the storm on Saturday morning as winds and rain that swept away from the center of the storm knocked out utility services. According to the area’s Blackout Center, more than 376,000 customers in Nova Scotia have been without electricity so far.
Winds extend far from the center of Fiona.
Residents of New Brunswick, southern Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador are also facing severe weather as Fiona gusts north at more than 40 mph (65 km/h) after making landfall between Canso and Gaisborough in eastern Nova Scotia. Leads to. Fiona is expected to pass through Cape Breton Island on Saturday morning and reach the southeast Labrador Sea in the evening.
“The storm is producing strong winds and very heavy rain,” the Canadian Hurricane Center said before making landfall. “Wide speed of 80–110 km/h (50–68 mph) has been reported so far over Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and les-de-la-Madeleine, with a maximum speed of 144 km/h (90 mph). per hour). on Beaver Island, Nova Scotia.”
Fiona weakened slightly to a Category 2 hurricane on Friday, but is still expected to bring devastating storms, heavy rain and strong winds. Fiona was a Category 4 hurricane over the Atlantic early Wednesday after passing through the Turks and Caicos Islands and remained so until Friday afternoon.
Atlantic Coast officials are urging those en route to Fiona to be on high alert and prepared for the impact of the storm, which has already killed at least five people and affected several Caribbean islands this week. While doing so, the electricity of lakhs of people has been cut. Homes and water infrastructure were severely damaged in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and many residents are still trying to recover.
Forecasters in Canada said Friday that Fiona is on track to become an “extreme weather event” in eastern Canada, threatening nearly two months of rain.
“This could be a historic event for Canada in terms of tropical cyclone intensity,” and could even become Canada’s version of Superstorm Sandy, said Chris Fogarty, manager of the Canadian Hurricane Center. In 2012, Sandy affected 24 states and the entire East Coast, causing US$78.7 billion in damage.
According to Bob Robichaud of the Canada Hurricane Center, Fiona became post-tropical before landfall, reaching the north as a low pressure depression and cold air at the same time as Sandy did.
Sandbags were placed around the doors of the Nova Scotia Power Building in Halifax prior to Fiona’s arrival.
“What these things do is they grow tremendously in size, which is what Fiona is doing as well,” he explained Friday. “Sandy was bigger than expected for Fiona. But the process is essentially the same: The two features feed off each other to create a strong storm like the one we’ll see overnight.”
According to CNN meteorologist Derek Van Damme, hurricane-force winds could extend up to about 300 km from Fiona’s center and tropical-storm-force winds up to 555 km.
CNN’s Derek Van Dam, Haley Brink, Aya Elamrousi, Theresa Waldrop and Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.
