‘A nasty day and a nasty night’ ahead as Lee set to make landfall in P.E.I. overnight
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CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Lee is anticipated to make landfall in P.E.I. Saturday, bringing in stronger winds and extra rain beginning within the afternoon.
Now ranked as a post-tropical storm system, Lee continues to be recording most sustained winds of 120 km/h, which is the equal of a weak Class 1 hurricane, in response to the midday replace by Canadian Hurricane Centre and Setting Canada.
David Neil, who’s a meteorologist with Setting and Local weather Change Canada, mentioned Lee is transferring northward at about 40 km/h and was anticipated to make landfall on the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia the afternoon of Sept. 16.
It was forecast to achieve the western a part of P.E.I. round 3 p.m. ADT, he mentioned.
“By that time, the storm may have weakened considerably. However with that mentioned, we’re nonetheless anticipating some fairly sturdy winds over the Island all through in the present day and tonight,” Neil instructed SaltWire in an interview morning of Sept. 16.
“It’s a very good factor when you’ll be able to keep away from the worst. However that mentioned, it’s nonetheless going to be a major storm because it comes up via … So it is actually not one thing the place it is beneficial to go about enterprise as regular. It’s nonetheless going to be a nasty day and a nasty evening tonight with this storm.”
Amid sturdy winds on Saturday, greater than 1,700 Maritime Electrical clients are with out energy as of two:50 p.m., in response to the outage map on the utility’s web site.
Submit-tropical storm #Lee is anticipated to achieve #PEI late tonight. Check out the scenes at Kinlock Seashore and Charlottetown Yacht Membership earlier than the storm will get right here. @PEIGuardian pic.twitter.com/EAtjfHJsos
— Thinh Nguyen (@thinhnguyen4291) September 16, 2023
All Northumberland Ferries sailings on Sept. 16 are cancelled as a result of forecast of sturdy winds within the area.
At 1:12 p.m., the Confederation Bridge was closed to sure courses of autos as a consequence of excessive winds. Restricted courses included vehicles towing trailers, bikes, highsided autos together with vans, tractor trailers, leisure autos, and buses.
The Confederation Bridge reported wind speeds of 79 km/h with gusts of 103 km/h as of two:45 p.m. Saturday.
‘Good day to remain put’
Tropical storm warning and wind warning have in place throughout P.E.I. Sept. 16.
Neil mentioned sturdy winds will regularly decide up because the day goes on, shifting from a northeast path to southeast late within the afternoon, with wind gusts as much as 90 km/h. These sturdy winds will persist via the evening, regularly diminishing by early Sunday morning, Sept. 17.
“So it is actually not one thing the place it is beneficial to go about enterprise as regular. It’s nonetheless going to be a nasty day and a nasty evening tonight with this storm.”
— David Neil, Setting Canada
“It is a good day to remain put and keep out of the climate,” he mentioned.
As for rainfall, Neil expects the heaviest rain to fall within the western a part of the Island, with lighter rainfall elsewhere on P.E.I.
The mix of sturdy winds and heavy rainfall will increase the chance of damaged tree limbs and uprooted timber, doubtlessly resulting in energy outages and street blockages, he mentioned.
“The opposite factor to know too is it has been a really moist summer time, so the bottom continues to be fairly saturated in quite a lot of locations within the Maritimes. So you set that with an extra little bit of heavy rainfall and definitely that may also enhance your danger of seeing some timber being uprooted,” Neil mentioned.
The P.E.I. authorities has revealed an inventory of reception centres throughout the Island: https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/justice-and-public-safety/reception-centres.
In a press launch, the Metropolis of Charlottetown mentioned it’s ready to open reception centres on Sunday, Sept. 17 within the occasion of prolonged energy outages.
Extra fireplace, police and public works crews will likely be introduced in in a single day as a precaution to take care of pressing issues.
For essentially the most up-to-date data, residents ought to verify native information and town’s social media accounts.
Thinh Nguyen is a reporter with SaltWire in Prince Edward Island. He could be reached by electronic mail at [email protected] and adopted on X @thinhnguyen4291.
