Dorian’s unwelcome visit in 2019
Post-tropical storm caused a lot of damage in tri-counties
One of the biggest weather stories of 2019 came courtesy of a storm named Dorian.
Dorian brought strong winds and heavy rain to the region on Sept. 7, 2019, and left its mark on southwestern Nova Scotia by downing trees and power lines and leaving thousands without power, amid other damage.
After Dorian was gone, the storm’s impact remained for days with cleanups and repairs, while thousands waited for restoration of power – most for multiple days and some for up to nearly a week.
As of the evening of Sept. 7, while Dorian pummelled the province, over 400,000 of Nova Scotia Power’s 500,000-or-so customers were without power.
The hurricane was a posttropical storm when it made landfall in Nova Scotia, said Saltwire meteorologist Cindy Day. In the tri-counties, Dorian brought strong, sustained winds throughout the day and strong gusts well above 100 km/h. In Yarmouth, for instance, a gust of 129 km/h was recorded at the airport.
The majority of damage came in the form of downed trees and powerlines and there was evidence of this throughout Yarmouth, Shelburne and Digby counties.
Forest Street in Yarmouth – beloved for its canopy of trees – lost several large trees, much to the heartbreak of many. A huge tree in front of the Lakelawn Motel in Yarmouth tore up part of the sidewalk when it was blown over, crashing onto brick entrance columns and tangling itself in power lines.
Downtown Shelburne saw many downed trees, along with downed power poles and powerlines, with many streets and roads barricaded due to down power lines and poles.
While some parts of the region had their power restored within two or three days, for some in other parts of the tricounties the wait was much longer. People made the best of the situation.
“Living on the Bonnie Road in Meteghan for the past 28 years has been mostly quiet, except for the occasional bear sighting, huge snowstorm or power outage. In these years, with having our children grow up together, we have bonded as neighbours,” said resident Nicole Comeau, whose family was without power from Sept. 7 to Sept. 12.
“Other than cooking outside, lugging laundry to mom’s, we have been fortunate to have a generator. Without one and my husband’s knowledge, we would have been in a mess,” Comeau said. “He also helped out two other families hook up to generator power with many thanks.” Comeau said as others in Meteghan had their power restored, invitations went out to those on the Bonnie Road to go to other people’s houses for coffee, a shower, or anything else they needed.
Another issue that caused problem for residents in the region was many gas stations in the tri-counties (along with other parts of the province) ran out of fuel as they were awaiting new fuel deliveries. This wasn’t just an issue for people looking to gas up their vehicles, but also to gather gas for generators during the power outages. In Weymouth on the morning of Sept. 9, a long lineup of vehicles could be seen as people waited to access one of the four pumps at the Irving.
All public schools were closed on Sept. 9 and 10 as the cleanup from Dorian continued and power continued to be restored. School officials also needed time to assess buildings to ensure there was no damage before students and staff returned. One school in the region that did see damage was Evelyn Richardson
Memorial Elementary School in Shag Harbour, where a section of roof over the gymnasium and kitchen was damaged.
In Wedgeport, Yarmouth County, a building at Wedgeport Boat Ltd. was destroyed by the winds. It was a crumpled mess as it was shifted off of its foundation. “It’s a good thing there were no moulds in the shop, there was just a hull. We had just taken all of the moulds (a couple of days earlier),” said Skip Muise, an owner of the boat company.
No one was injured as the building was unoccupied. That was the most important thing, he said.
Nova Scotia Power has said that Dorian was the most damaging storm the company has ever dealt with – even when compared to Hurricane Juan in 2003. NS Power said Dorian’s winds, which topped 100 kilometres an hour, tracked slowly through the middle of the province, which led to more widespread damage in Nova Scotia. It was estimated that the damage from Dorian cost the utility roughly $39 million.
An iconic image from the storm was a toppled crane in Halifax. The province said the cost of removing the crane that toppled was $2 million.
In December the Nova Scotia government announced that it will open a disaster financial assistance program on Jan. 8, to help those who sustained property damage from Hurricane Dorian. The program will help individuals, small businesses and not-for-profit organizations that have uninsurable claims and municipalities with uninsured losses.
“Hurricane Dorian caused widespread damage across Nova Scotia and its effects were felt from Yarmouth to Sydney,” said Chuck Porter, minister responsible for emergency management. “Based on the information we received from municipalities and provincial departments, the damage is estimated to be about $11 million.”