Hurricane Fiona leaves hundreds of thousands without power in Atlantic Canada

TRENTON. KAZINFORM - Hurricane Fiona slammed into Atlantic Canada early Saturday leaving a trail of destruction, hundreds of thousands without electricity and leading Cape Breton Island to declare a state of emergency, Anadolu Agency reports.

Roads were closed due to fallen trees, many were without power, and residents were warned to shelter in place on Cape Breton, an island of about 132,000 off the eastern coast off Nova Scotia.

Severe wind gusts up to 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour) and 100 millimeters (3.94 inches) of rain left 82,000 without power as of 8.30 a.m. AST (0430GMT) in the province of Prince Edward Island. Early Saturday, crews attempting to repair power lines were pulled off the roads until conditions improved.

«As soon as we can safely get out, we're going to get out and assess this damage as quickly as we can,» said Maritime Electric spokesperson Kim Griffin. «We want [islanders] to stay home as safe as possible right now and ride out the storm in a safe place.»

In Port aux Basques, a town of 4,000 on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, emergency evacuations were underway as multiple homes were washed away by ocean storm surges.

«What's actually happening here is total devastation,» said Mayor Brian Button.

In Nova Scotia, more than 405,000 were without power and New Brunswick had more than 55,000 power outages.

By late Saturday, Fiona's intensity is expected to decrease somewhat in the Maritimes but will still pack powerful winds and rain and will move into Quebec.

Photo: Andrew Vaughan