PM says stronger infrastructure needed after inspecting Fiona damage
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STANLEY BRIDGE, P.E.I. — Justin Trudeau travelled Tuesday to the north shore of P.E.I., the place he pledged to search out methods to construct extra resilient infrastructure after inspecting the intensive injury attributable to post-tropical storm Fiona.
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The prime minister was in Stanley Bridge, the place a storm surge and hurricane-force winds upended buildings and tossed fishing boats onto the shore early Saturday.
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“There’s at all times classes to be discovered,” Trudeau stated. “Sadly, the truth with local weather change is that there’s going to be extra excessive climate occasions. We’re going to have to consider how to ensure we’re prepared for no matter comes at us.”
Trudeau was additionally anticipated to move later Tuesday to 2 communities in Cape Breton: Glace Bay and Sydney.
On Saturday morning, Fiona left a path of destruction throughout a large swath of Atlantic Canada, stretching from Nova Scotia’s jap mainland to Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island and southwestern Newfoundland.
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Energy was knocked out, scores of properties had been flattened and the ensuing cleanup is anticipated to take months if not years to finish. As nicely, the record-breaking storm is being blamed for 2 deaths.
“The federal authorities is right here as a associate,” Trudeau informed reporters in Stanley Bridge. “We had been working prematurely of the storm to arrange for the worst, and the worst occurred. However on the identical time, we’ve heard super tales of resilience.”
Greater than 200,000 Atlantic Canadian properties and companies had been nonetheless with out electrical energy Tuesday afternoon — greater than 134,000 of them in Nova Scotia and 71,000 in P.E.I.
When requested if it was time for Ottawa to speculate extra in burying overhead energy strains, Trudeau stated there are classes to be discovered from what occurred in Atlantic Canada and jap Quebec.
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“We’re taking a look at methods of constructing extra resilient infrastructure,” he stated. “The fact is that excessive climate occasions are going to get extra intense over the approaching years as a result of our local weather is altering. That’s why we have now to ensure we’re adapting to it.”
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On Tuesday, the Canadian Space Agency posted two satellite photos of Prince Edward Island, one taken on Aug. 21, the opposite on Sept. 25, a day after Fiona lashed the island with hurricane-force winds that exceeded 140 kilometres per hour.
The second photograph clearly reveals the clear blue waters across the Island streaked by enormous underwater plumes of sand and soil extending far offshore.
The company posted a tweet saying the images illustrate “the extent to which the intense wind and wave motion of the storm has churned up the ocean flooring and eroded the shoreline.”
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In Ottawa, Defence Minister Anita Anand confirmed there at the moment are about 300 army members aiding with restoration efforts in Atlantic Canada, with Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and Newfoundland every getting 100 troops. Anand stated the army is mobilizing one other 150 troops in Nova Scotia and 150 for Newfoundland.
HMCS Margaret Brooke, one of many navy’s new Arctic patrol vessels, was additionally scheduled to reach Tuesday within the distant neighborhood of Francois on the south coast of Newfoundland to verify on residents.
“They’re serving to to maneuver folks away from broken and high-risk properties, they usually’re being as useful as potential,” Anand stated.
Indigenous Companies Minister Patty Hajdu stated 13 Indigenous communities had been affected by the storm, and that native authorities at the moment are scrambling to make sure they’ve sufficient meals and gas. “They’re centered as nicely on the restoration of their fishing provides and boats, particularly, because it pertains to their ongoing livelihood,” Hajdu stated.
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In Halifax, the area’s largest metropolis, greater than 24,000 prospects had been spending their fourth day with out electrical energy. In the course of the day, the snarl of chainsaws supplies many of the background noise within the metropolis, and at evening the soundscape modifications to the low drone of turbines.
Nova Scotia’s electrical utility issued an announcement Tuesday saying it had 1,300 technicians and assessors within the area, the corporate’s largest mobilization in its historical past. That quantity consists of crews from New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario and New England.
As nicely, the corporate stated army members had been aiding by eradicating bushes and brush, delivering provides and offering safety for vans and gear.
On the top of the storm 415,000 Nova Scotia properties and companies had been at the hours of darkness, which included 210,000 within the Halifax area and 65,000 in Cape Breton.
Colleges and authorities workplaces remained closed in all of P.E.I. and far of Nova Scotia, and P.E.I. introduced its public colleges will stay closed till at the least Monday.
— With information from Michael MacDonald in Halifax and Lee Berthiaume in Ottawa.