Canada faces electricity problems after Fiona’s passage

Hundreds of thousands of people along Canada’s Atlantic coast were still without power on Sunday, and authorities say they have found the body of a woman who was swept into the sea after the remnants of Hurricane Fiona swept away houses, destroyed roofs and blocked roads in the provinces. of the neighboring country of this ocean.

After moving north from the Caribbean, Fiona made landfall before dawn Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone, hitting the provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricane force winds, rain and storm surges.

Defense Minister Anita Anand said the military would help remove fallen trees, restore transmission lines and do whatever is necessary for as long as necessary.

Fiona has been credited with at least five deaths in the Caribbean and one in Canada. Authorities have found the body of a 73-year-old woman missing in the water in Channel-Port Aux Basques, a town on the south coast of Newfoundland.

The woman was inside her residence moments before a wave hit her home on Monday morning, taking part of the basement with it, police said. In a statement posted on social media, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the body was found on Sunday afternoon with the help of the country’s coast guard and other rescue teams.

“We know what can happen when you live in coastal communities and tragically another person has been taken from us by the sea,” said Gudie Hutchings, MP for Newfoundland.

As of Sunday afternoon, more than 211,000 Nova Scotia Power customers and more than 81,000 Maritime Electric customers in the province of Prince Edward Island, or about 95% of the total, were still without power. In New Brunswick, there were more than 20,600 homes and businesses without electrical service.

More than 415,000 Nova Scotia Power customers, or about 80% of the province’s roughly 1 million people, were affected by outages Saturday.

Utility companies said it could take days for full service to be restored.

Cape Breton Island Regional Municipal Mayor Amanda McDougall said Sunday there were more than 200 people in temporary shelters. More than 70 roads in the region have been completely blocked. He said he couldn’t count the houses that were damaged in his neighborhood.

He said it was crucial that the military arrive to help remove the debris, noting that the road leading to the airport is inaccessible and the control tower has been badly damaged.

McDougall found it incredible that no one in his community was hurt.

“People listened to the warnings and did what they had to do, and that was the result,” he said.

Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King said more than 100 service members will arrive on Sunday to help with recovery efforts. Schools will remain closed on Monday and Tuesday, noting that many bridges have been destroyed.

“Damage of this magnitude and severity has never been seen in the history of our province,” King said. He noted that it will take a “colossal effort by thousands of people” to recover in the days and weeks to come.

Kim Griffin, spokesman for the Prince Edward Island electricity supplier, said it would likely take “several days” to restore service to the island.

“There is a sense of shock and amazement on the streets at the magnitude of the storm,” said Sean Casey, an MP representing Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, adding that people are determined to participate in recovery efforts.

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Associated Press writer Stephen Groves, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, contributed to this report.

Mona Watkins

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