Dorian Makes Landfall Near Halifax

USPA NEWS - Halifax  was hit particularly hard by the storm which arrived in the region Saturday afternoon as a fierce Category 2 hurricane and was downgraded to a post-tropical storm later in the evening when it made landfall near Sambro Creek which is about 15 miles south of Nova Scotia's capital city.

After Hurricane Dorian devastated parts of the Bahamas and battered parts of the Eastern  United States it made its way into Canadian waters and made landfall in Nova Scotia just after the supper hour on Saturday September 7, 2019. Following a night of torrential rain, hurricane-force winds and large waves  residents of the province  awoke to  downed  trees, property damage, flooding, interruption to cellular phone services   and widespread power outages. People could be seen collecting debris from their yards and  city crews worked to remove large tree branches, items that were obstructing power lines and items that would impede traffic. Halifax Transit suspended service on Sunday September 8th while  schools in Nova Scotia were closed Monday and Tuesday to allow time for power restoration and clean up. The province of Nova Scotia requested federal assistance and up to 700 military personnel in Atlantic Canada were prepared to deploy. Required assistance would include helping with the restoration of power, clearing main roadways, and evacuating residents in flooded or severely damaged areas.  On Sunday September 8th 300 troops from CFB Gagetown   were deployed to the Halifax, 200 more troops from HRM could be mobilized along with 200 more troops from New Brunswick if needed. During the peak of the storm, Nova Scotia Power reports that there were 400, 000 customers without power, but by  Sunday afternoon that number dropped to 360,000. This is thought to be the largest outage in company history. By Wednesday September 11th  there were still 65,000 customers without power and as of Saturday September 14th there were still 1344 waiting to have their power restored. Crews from Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Maine and Florida were brought in to aid in the restoration process.

Although there had  been reports of significant damage throughout the region most people were not required to evacuate, however there was one neighborhood in the heart of downtown Halifax that was placed under mandatory evacuation due to a large construction crane knocked down by the high winds during the peak of the storm. The crane came to rest on the building it was being used to construct causing risk to the integrity of the building and a risk to neighboring structures. Engineers would not speculate on how they would go about removing the crane or how long the process would take, but in the mean time residents are restricted from returning home and businesses in the area  remain closed.

There were no reports of death or serious injury in the region from Hurricane Dorian. Despite the storm related damage and inconvenience people still found time to help family, friends and in some cases complete strangers in their time of need. It is this kind of community spirit that makes Nova Scotians strong and able to face what ever comes their way.