Fiona knocks out power in Canada

Houses washed away; recovery efforts go on

TORONTO — Fiona washed houses into the sea, tore the roofs off others and knocked out power to the vast majority of two Canadian provinces Saturday as it made landfall as a big, powerful post-tropical cyclone.

Fiona transformed from a hurricane into a post-tropical storm late Friday, but it still had hurricane-strength winds and brought drenching rains and huge waves. There was no confirmation of fatalities or injures.

Ocean waves pounded the town of Channel-port Aux Basques on the southern coast of Newfoundland, where entire structures were washed into the sea. Mayor Brian Button said Saturday over social media that people were being evacuated to high ground as winds knocked down power lines.

“We’ve already had houses … that are washed away,” he said.

More than 415,000 Nova Scotia Power customers — about 80 percent of the province of almost 1 million — were affected by power outages Saturday morning. Over 82,000 customers in the province of Prince Edward Island, about 95 percent, were also without power, while NB Power in New Brunswick reported 44,329 were without electricity.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said they have requested military and disaster assistance from the federal government.

The U.S. hurricane center said Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph Saturday.

Hurricanes in Canada are somewhat rare, in part because once the storms reach colder waters, they lose their main source of energy. But post-tropical cyclones still can have hurricane-strength winds, although they have a cold core and no visible eye. They also often lose their symmetric form.

Darren Calabrese The Associated Press Georgina Scott surveys the damage on her street in Halifax as post-tropical storm Fiona continues to batter the area on Saturday. Canadian forecasters warned it could be one of the most severe storms in the country’s history.