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Dorian makes landfall near Halifax, Canada as dangerous cyclone
OTTAWA, Sept 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Dorian made landfall in Canada on
Saturday night south of Halifax with ferocious 100 mph (155 kph) winds and
torrential rains, meteorologists said, toppling trees and whipping up debris.
The storm churned up 65-foot (20-meter) waves which pounded the coast near
the port city that is home to Canada’s Atlantic fleet.
As it moved north from the US after devastating the Bahamas, the storm was
now being called a “very intense post-tropical cyclone,” but the Canadian
Hurricane Centre warned that it was still packing winds equivalent to those
of a Category 2 hurricane.
“We’re talking about a very dangerous storm,” Bob Robichaud of the Canadian
Hurricane Centre told a briefing.
Officials also said it had already dropped more than 100 millimeters (four
inches) of rain on Nova Scotia, which could double by Sunday morning.
Storm surges were causing widespread flooding. And more than 450,000
households were without electricity after winds knocked down power lines.
According to reports, a crane collapsed onto an apartment building under
construction in downtown Halifax.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said federal assistance was being
provided.
The military was mobilized to deliver aid and help with evacuations, while
roads and bridges in the region were closed.
Overnight, Dorian was expected to track northeast through the Maritimes
region with “destructive winds and heavy rainfall,” the Canadian Hurricane
Centre said, passing near eastern Prince Edward Island around midnight, and
then over the eastern Gulf of St. Lawrence waters and western Newfoundland by
Sunday morning.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0829 hrs