The US National Hurricane Center said on Saturday that Storm Fiona made landfall in eastern Canada’s Nova Scotia.
With maximum sustained winds of 90 miles (144 kilometres) per hour and heavy rainfall, the NHC said the storm would affect many parts of eastern Canada.
When the storm was about 160 miles (255 km) northeast of Halifax, it weakened somewhat as it travelled north. As a result of the storm, at least 400,000 households lost electricity in Nova Scotia.
Killing at least eight people and knocking out power for virtually all of Puerto Rico’s 3.3 million people during a sweltering heat wave, the storm-battered Caribbean islands earlier in the week.
Press secretary Cecely Roy said on Twitter that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delayed Saturday’s departure for Japan to receive briefings and support the government’s emergency response.
Warning of severe flooding along shorelines and extremely dangerous waves, Canadian authorities sent emergency alerts in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Saying power outages were likely and people should stay inside with enough supplies for at least 72 hours, authorities in Nova Scotia issued an emergency alert on phones.
Canadian Hurricane Centre meteorologist Bob Robichaud told a briefing that the storm could prove more ferocious than the benchmarks of Hurricane Juan in 2003 and Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
(With inputs from agencies)
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