St. Alban’s, Nfld., lost the bridge connecting the main part of town to the rest of the island in the weekend’s wild weather.
MELISSA BURKE
Thousands suffered power outages and some schools in Nova Scotia were closed after torrential rain and strong winds, the remnants of Hurricane Matthew, blasted the region on Thanksgiving Monday. Here's a closer look at how the wet weekend unfolded.
In pictures: Newfoundland, N.S. suffer heavy storm damage
THE FORECAST
Some parts of northern Nova Scotia, particularly Cape Breton, received more than 200 millimetres of rain, causing flooding that swept manhole covers out of place. Check here for Environment Canada's latest forecasts for Tuesday.
- Nova Scotia: All schools in the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board are closed and comfort centres have opened in North Sydney, Sydney and Reserve Mines. Wayne MacDonald, director of public works for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, told a news conference this morning there is damage that cannot be seen yet with the waters so high.
- Prince Edward Island: Maritime Electric in PEI is asking drivers to use caution because of water on the roads coupled with downed trees and power lines.
- Newfoundland and Labrador: States of emergency have been declared in Lewisporte, St. Alban’s and Little Burnt Bay. Residents and gas stations in St. Alban’s are being asked to conserve fuel so there is enough diesel for heavy equipment and gas for emergency vehicles. The RCMP is reporting numerous road washouts across the province, and is asking motorists to stay off the roadways unless absolutely necessary.
Photos posted on social media showed downed trees and power lines as well as flooded roads and homes.
Well now...... Any scuba divers out there? This is one for the books for us! Slow down #nltraffic #nlwx has the highways floating! pic.twitter.com/Ivic34qiZ7
— McCormacks Towing (@Mccormackssct) October 10, 2016
IN MATTHEW'S WAKE
Atlantic Canada's blast of wet weather was fuelled by Hurricane Matthew, which left a trail of destruction in the Caribbean and the United States over the past week. Hurricane Matthew killed more than 500 people in Haiti and at least 23 in the United States, nearly half of them in North Carolina.
An aerial views of Jeremie, 188 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince, on Oct. 10, 2016, after the passage of Hurricane Matthew. Haiti faces a humanitarian crisis that requires a ‘massive response’ from the international community, the United Nations chief said, with at least 1.4 million people needing emergency aid.
NICOLAS GARCIA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The UN humanitarian agency in Geneva has made an emergency appeal for nearly $120-million in aid for hard-hit Haiti, saying about 750,000 people in southwest Haiti alone will need "life-saving assistance and protection" in the next three months. The UN also said the hurricane has increased the risk of a "renewed spike" in the number of cholera cases in Haiti. (A cholera outbreak since 2010 has already killed roughly 10,000 people and sickened more than 800,000.)
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Get a pilots-eye view of the inside of Hurricane Matthew
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