On Monday, the Canadian government announced that about 100 soldiers have been deployed to each of Canada’s three Atlantic provinces hit by Storm Fiona, and also announced that a Navy ship would visit the hardest-hit area. Newfoundland, with 76 homes destroyed or structural damage.
Defense Minister Anita Anand said the HMCS Margaret Brooke will conduct inspections in four hard-hit communities, adding that more soldiers are being prepared if needed.
After sweeping across the northern Caribbean as a powerful hurricane, Fiona made landfall before dawn Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone, hitting Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricane-force winds, rain and waves.
Fiona has swept homes into the sea in a coastal community in Newfoundland, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power in eastern Canada.
Anand explained that the troops will help in clearing fallen trees, restoring transport links and carrying out any other task required for as long as necessary.
Fiona has been blamed for at least five deaths in the Caribbean and one in Canada. Authorities have found the body of a 73-year-old woman who was missing in Channel-Port-au-Basque, a town on the south coast of Newfoundland.
Jodi Hutchings, the federal legislator for the hardest-hit Newfoundland region, said 76 families had nowhere to live.
“The images do not show the complete destruction in this area,” Hutchings said. “It will be a long time before this area recovers.”
In Atlantic Canada, eastern Quebec and southwestern Newfoundland, authorities continue to assess the economic impact of the storm.
Electricity has not yet been restored to 266,000 homes and businesses. At the height of the storm on Saturday, more than 500,000 were in the dark, including 80% of Nova Scotia Power customers and 90% of Prince Edward Island.
Utility companies have warned that it may take several days before power is restored to everyone.
