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Catherine McNutt takes a picture of some of the destruction left by Hurricane Fiona. (Catherine McNutt/Submitted)

Hurricane Fiona wreaks havoc in eastern Canada

By Gillian Massie Sep 24, 2022 | 5:42 PM

As Hurricane Fiona rips through parts of Atlantic Canada, many people are feeling shaken up.

Catherine McNutt describes the storm as one of the worst she has ever seen with lots of fallen trees, pools of water, and fallen telephone poles lying visible outside her window Saturday morning.

McNutt said she and her partner were feeling pretty worried.

“A little bit of panic,” said McNutt. “But I mean overall, we’re feeling pretty good. We’re glad it’s over now.”

Hundreds of thousands of people were affected by the storm that passed over Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

“We have enough food for at least 72 hours,” said McNutt. “That was what was asked of us but we couldn’t find a lot of things when we went to our storm prep. There were no generators. There was no butane stove.”

McNutt said she and her partner have been relying on a neighbour’s generator for power because theirs has been out since the storm hit and they suspect it could be a while before their power gets restored.

“I’m not going to have power till Monday, probably. So we have to like preserve our phones, everything,” said McNutt.

McNutt said she regained power briefly for fifteen minutes early Saturday morning, only for it to go out once again. She said she was sad to see much of the destruction around Nova Scotia.

“I will say, last night I got up out of bed like five times to check to make sure that there was no flooding because we did get quite a bit of rain,” said McNutt. “Now we just have to focus on just being cool for a couple of days until we get our power back and everything like that.”

While McNutt is stuck inside, her partner is putting in 12-hour days at the hospital to help existing patients and other individuals recover.

Wendy Hanlan is another person 980 CJME and 650 CKOM spoke with.

She lives near Halifax and said the storm hit her home around midnight.

“We were dealing with the storm all night,” said Hanlan. “There was no sleep.”

Trees falling onto power lines and transformers exploding were a part of her evening views.

“My power went out at two in the morning, and I don’t expect that it is going to go back on anytime soon,” said Hanlan who is only relying on her cellphones data for communication.

“We are just digging our way out from underneath the debree right now,” said Hanlan who watched broken tree branches being lifted off of her buildings.

Hanlan experienced hurricane Dorian in 2019 which took off her roof and blew down many of her big trees. She said the damage this time around for Hurricane Fiona is comparable to damage done three years ago.

“You have to have your emergency kit ready at all times,” said Hanlan, who said to make sure batteries, candles, storm chips, and food and water were all included.

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