Fiona slams Canada’s Atlantic coast, wiping away homes and knocking out power

Fiona, now a post-tropical cyclone, continued to slowly weaken Saturday evening and into the night as it moved away from the coastal town of Channel-Port aux Basques, in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the storm left a trail of devastation. Some coastal homes in the area collapsed and a few toppled structures fell into the sea or were surrounded by floodwater, pictures sent from the province Saturday morning showed.

In Channel-Port aux Basques, houses were washed away, Mayor Brian Button said in a Facebook video Saturday. Huge waves reaching the eastern shores of Nova Scotia and southwestern Newfoundland caused “severe coastal flooding” at the town, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said Saturday night.

René Roy, editor-in-chief of Wreckhouse Press, a local news publication, described a scene of carnage in the storm: uprooted trees, at least eight nearby homes vanished in the wake of a violent storm surge, cabins floating by, a boat carried by floodwaters into the middle of a local playground.

Roy told CNN he evacuated from his home and staying with a cousin on higher ground. He had no idea Saturday evening if his home is still standing and emergency personnel stopped him from driving over to check. It was unsafe to do so, they warned.

Pictures by another area resident, Terry Osmond, showed a collapsed building in Channel-Port aux Basques surrounded by seawater at the shoreline, and splintered wood and other debris were scattered across town.

“Never in my lifetime” has there been “so much destruction … in our area,” Osmond, 62, wrote to CNN.

A woman in town was rescued from water Saturday afternoon after her home collapsed, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. She was taken to a hospital; the extent of her injuries wasn’t immediately known, police said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday afternoon the government was assessing damage from the storm, but officials had already begun helping communities who were affected, including approving Nova Scotia’s request for federal assistance. The Canadian Armed Forces will also be deployed to the region to assist in damage assessment and cleanup, Trudeau said.

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