Officials urge Nova Scotians to prepare now for Fiona
CBC
As Hurricane Fiona barrels toward Atlantic Canada with landfall expected later this week, officials across the province are preparing for the storm and urging residents to do the same before it hits.
Representatives from the provincial Emergency Management Office, Nova Scotia Power, Cape Breton Regional Municipality and the Canadian Red Cross held a news conference about preparations Wednesday.
Jason Mew, director of EMO's incident management division, said people shouldn't wait until the last minute to get essential items.
"Driving through roads that are under water or running into debris from a fallen tree, it's always best, if you can, to stay home during the storm," Mew said.
"And really this is a time when we're trying to reach out to people to make sure they're prepared now so they're not going out to a grocery store in the middle of the storm to look for bottled water or a phone charger."
Bob Robichaud, a meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada, said the latest information suggests Nova Scotia will be hardest hit by Fiona overnight Friday to Saturday.
"Just in terms of satellite imagery alone, we're so much better at being able to track these things than we were just only five years ago," Robichaud said.
"So the science is at a point now where we get a pretty good idea of where these storms are going to go, how intense they're going to be, but always when we start to drill down to the local level, that's where things can change a little bit."
The storm is expected to bring strong winds, heavy rain and storm surges, and could result in power outages, flooding and serious damage.
Nova Scotia Power will be sending extra resources to Cape Breton to deal with anticipated power outages because eastern Nova Scotia is expected to bear the brunt of the storm.
Christina Lamey, a spokesperson for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, said the local emergency management office has been preparing for days. Lamey said residents should prepare for longer power outages.
"We're very much in the message now of telling people to be ready in every sense of the word, prepare around your house, prepare the materials you're going to need — waters, batteries," she said.
The Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office is asking people to prepare for Fiona by:
Ancel Langille, a senior manager with the Canadian Red Cross, said people don't need to spend a lot of money on emergency kits.