Cleanup starts after storm blasts Atlantic Canada
• After hours of unrelenting rain, the roar came so suddenly it woke Helen Kendell. She went outside at 4 a.m. Tuesday to find her daughter frantic with fear — and a “tsunami” of water coming down Main Street in Morrisville, N.L.
“It took everything in its path. It was a foaming river, it was unreal,” Kendell said from her home in the community of about 100 residents in the Bay d’Espoir region.
In Morrisville, and much of Atlantic Canada, cleanup efforts were underway Tuesday after a storm that brought torrential rain and strong winds, leaving thousands without power and washing out roads.
Among the worst hit was Cape Breton, which was inundated by more than 200 millimetres of rain. Wayne MacDonald, director of public works for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, said Tuesday the extent of flooding damage is not yet known.
“Manhole covers have come off due to the pressures and in areas there is ... damage that cannot be seen yet with the waters this high,” MacDonald told a news conference.
Photos on social media showed water reaching up to a car window in Cape Breton, waves battering the Canso Causeway and firefighters wading through nearly waistdeep water.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, states of emergency were declared in several communities. In Nova Scotia, the government released a list of 20 roads described as “closed or partially closed.”
Nova Scotia Power said there were a total of 144,000 outages across the province, and 45,000 homes and business were still without power Tuesday afternoon.
Most customers would regain power by 11 a.m. Thursday, the utility said.