Checking in again. PEI got hit HARD. The damage on the north shore is quite bad. Some cottages washed out to sea. I hope Darryl (Pontiacanada) is ok. Saw a video from a guy who's property is 25 feet above the ocean and the waves were washing onto his lawn! It's especially bad in Stanhope (the golf club house is currently on fire) and Stanley Bridge. Charlottetown is a mess. Trees and wires down everywhere, signs blown over and buildings with quite a bit of damage. About 95% of the island is without power. They are saying it will be at least until tomorrow before power is restored. I've heard that one before. I bet we are still without electricity on Friday. My neighbors across the road lost their beautiful century old barn. They just did a roof and structural improvements a year or so ago. Lots of ground mounted solar panels destroyed. I'm also hearing Port aue Basques NFLD is in bad shape with houses washed out to see and an apartment building destroyed. I also just heard on CBC a lady was washed out to sea as well and lost. The winds are quite strong still and have changed from NE to NW. On the bright side I'll have enough firewood from downed trees for the next five years.
Just got my power back 30 minutes ago, a surprise as it was said to be back Monday night by the Power Corporation. Weird thing, I could get internet and search the web half way to Mahone Bay, but not at home. Good cel phone service both places, phone and text, but no internet at home. It worked earlier today but quit this afternoon.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
Yes thankfully we have no damage to our house and outbuildings. Not a scratch which is surprising. I'm very thankful especially after seeing photos of people's houses without roofs etc. We walked around our property to survey the tree damage last night and it is extensive. I have dozens of trees down. The north side of the island has extensive damage with some beaches completely washed away (Dalvay for example). Our local gas station lost all their fuel pumps! A neighbor told me pretty much every wire is down on the main highway (Transcanada) near us with multiple poles down as well. Speaking of fuel I hope there will be a gas station open in nearby Montague soon so I can get fuel for the generator. It wouldnt surprise me if we are without power for two weeks.
If there's a bright side I now have a water view of the Belle River from a portion of the rear of my property!
From the pei news I hear on the radio, you were very fortunate.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
We made out alright (in Halifax). Had a large pine fall and missed the house by mere inches. Neighbour across the street lost almost all the siding from the side of their house. Lots of roof shingles in the yard. The sound of chain saws replaced the typical weekend lawn mowers in the neighbourhood. Lost power for a day and a half, so all in all we got off easy. Terrible damage in east NS, Cape Breton, PEI, and west NL. Feel really bad for those folks, some areas changed forever.
Here's a copy/paste of Environment Canada's summary, as they tend to disappear off of their site after awhile:
Updated preliminary storm summary on Fiona.
THIS IS THE FINAL INFORMATION STATEMENT FOR THIS STORM.
1. Full Discussion of the Event.
Tropical depression Fiona formed over the central tropical Atlantic on September 15th. The tropical depression became better organized and its intensity gradually increased during the following day when the National Hurricane Centre reported tropical storm force winds near the centre of the cyclone. On September 16th Fiona reached the Leeward Islands while on its way to the western Atlantic. Two days later Fiona quickly intensified into a category 1 hurricane while turning to the northwest and passing through the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.
On September 18th Fiona began to intensify becoming a major hurricane and reaching category 4 while turning northward east of the Bahamas. Fiona maintained strong and dominant tropical characteristics as it moved into the Canadian Hurricane Centre response zone. Fiona began interacting with a mid-latitude upper trough as it advanced over the Canadian marine waters south of Nova Scotia on Friday the 23rd. At that point, maximum winds around the centre began to diminish. However, once the extra-tropical transition process was complete post-tropical storm Fiona re-intensified between Sable Island and the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. By that time hurricane-force winds were spreading across parts of Atlantic Canada and over eastern Quebec.
Fiona made landfall as a category-2 hurricane strength (maximum sustained wind speeds of 165 km/h or 90 knots) post-tropical cyclone near Whitehead, located 28 km southwest of the town of Canso, Nova Scotia, during the early morning hours of Saturday September 24th. Fiona generated damaging winds, torrential rainfall, large waves and destructive storm surge. The central pressure is expected to be the lowest recorded barometric pressure in Canadian history. The nearest automatic weather station located at Hart Island measured a sea level pressure of 932.7 millibars, while the East Chedabucto Bay buoy measured 932.8. We are still analyzing these data for accuracy.
Post-tropical storm Fiona headed north into the Gulf of St. Lawrence Saturday and brought damaging winds, torrential rainfall, large waves and destructive storm surge to the region. Fiona became fully absorbed by the upper trough on Sunday the 25th, and the remnant low still generated gale to storm force wind gusts as it moved over the Lower Quebec North Shore and then Labrador.
2. Summary of peak wind gusts in km/h:
For New Brunswick
Miscou Island: 113 Moncton Airport: 100 Saint John: 86 Crowe Brook: 85 Bas Caraquet: 82
For Newfoundland
Wreckhouse: 177 Green Island (Fortune Bay): 150 Port aux Basques: 134 Stephenville Airport: 117 Ramea: 114
For Nova Scotia
Arisaig: 179 Grand Etang: 167 Beaver Island: 160 St Paul Island: 158 Wadden's Cove: 150 Sydney: 149
For Prince Edward Island
East Point: 149 St Peters: 141 Summerside: 140 North Cape: 136 Charlottetown: 131
For Newfoundland amounts were highest in the southwest.
Wreckhouse: 77 Stephenville Airport: 53 Port aux Basques: 51 Kippens: 46
For Nova Scotia the highest amounts were reported over eastern areas and it ranged from 100 to 200 mm. There was unofficial reports of more than 200 mm near Antigonish.
For Prince Edward Island amounts ranged from 60 to 90 mm, but it is likely that some higher amounts occurred over southern sections of Kings county.
St Peter's: 89 East Point: 80 Charlottetown: 80 Stanhope: 73 North Cape: 71
For eastern Quebec amounts ranged from 50 to near 100 mm.
Iles-de-la-Madeleine: 92 Ile Anticosti: 78 Gaspe: 51 Chevery: 50
4. Summary of wave and storm surge information:
Large waves and elevated water levels were triggered by the passage of Fiona over eastern Canada. Extremely large waves reached the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia late Friday. Buoy data indicated wave heights of 5 to 8 metres. The largest offshore waves were near and east of the track of Fiona; this was indicated by satellite information and reports from a buoy over Banquereau Bank where waves averaged 12 to 15 metres with peaks waves as high as 30 metres. Some of these waves impacted Cabot Strait and southwestern Newfoundland. Over the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the largest waves were generally between 4 and 6 metres, but peak waves of 10 metres were measured east of the Gaspe Peninsula, and 16 metres over eastern sections of the Gulf.
Two water level records were established on Saturday. At Escuminac, New Brunswick, the peak water level measured was 2.82 metres (with a previous record 2.47), and at Port aux Basques that peak was 2.75 metres (with a previous record 2.71). These elevated waters levels were mostly driven by storm surge and extremely large waves which resulted in devastating flooding conditions especially along the coastlines of southwestern Newfoundland, eastern and northern Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Northumberland and Gulf coastlines, east coast of New Brunswick, and Iles-de-la-Madeleine. Also, there were reports of damage due to waves along parts of the Gaspe Peninsula coastline.
Peak wave of 30 meters = 100 ft almost. The weight of that high a wave would be incredible. I havent yet seen many pictures of the beach damage across the northern side of PEI, it will likely be incredible as that area is largely clay cliffs and sand beaches.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
We had a chance to take a drive around my area. What a mess! The Trans Canada highway is mostly 1 lane due to fallen trees. Wires and poles down everywhere. The corn crop has been wiped out. One silo at the grain facility I worked at is destroyed and the grain wagon rolled about 200 yards into a ditch! Many gas stations are empty however I heard last night the fuel storage facility in Charlottetown had power restored and trucks were beginning to deliver gas. I'm good for fuel until Wednesday then I will need more for the generator. We are only running it about 6 hours. Three in the morning to get the freezer and fridge chilled, make coffee (important!) and charge devices and then three hours in the evening for lights, fridge/freezer again, warming up dinner and charging phones.
I'd post photos but I'm on limited cell data. No word if my providor (Public Mobile) is going to wave data charges like Bell, Fido and Koodo is.
Hurricane Ian is heading to Cuba and Florida now. Track is likely seeing it head inland and die. But no one knows for sure where these things head when projecting forward more than a few days.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
Took a drive to Montague yesterday to refill the gas cans and get some groceries. They got their power back late Sunday. I'm awestruck by the damage I saw on the way. Some forests look like a giant hand flattened them.
There's a large front end loader parked across the street from my house so I suspect they will start clearing trees off my road today. I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect we are still a few days away from getting power back at my place. The remote start/electric start quit working on my generator so I'm back to pull starting it. I bought this from Home Hardware less than a year ago and really hadn't used it until this storm. Frustrating the quality of things these days. The "remote start" ready light is on. There's a wireless fob that you use to start and stop the generator plus a pushbutton on the generator itself to start it. Neither works. The battery should be fine as it's supposed to charge while the generator is on (plus this wouldn't explain why I can't shut down the unit with the remote). At least it's under warranty and I'll deal with that once we have electricity back.
Today we continue to tackle yard clean up.
Your sweet island has been damaged badly from what I've seen. Not sure what I would do if we had a big landscape changing event Like a wildfire sweep through here. I guess the same as you, just go on with life and pick up the pieces.
Still want to get out there and do the island walk but I'm sure the trails have been badly damaged too. I was thinking about doing it this fall and I have to say I wonder how I would have fared though this.
Reports and pictures of erosion on peis north shore show up to 30 ft of the shoreline gone so if your yard was on the water, you just lost 30 ft of land between you and the water. Pei has no natural rock, if you buy gravel or any rock, its hauled in from NS or NB. So very expensive to haul large rock in to protect your shoreline.
One fish plant in Cape Breton located on the water but protected by a large rock breakwater saw the water come over and through the breakwater and broke through a 16 inch thick concrete wall. Destroyed the plants equipment. Another place in pei, boats tied to a wharf, the wharf came out from its moorings and numerous boats remained attached to the wharf which was floating in the harbour.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
Your sweet island has been damaged badly from what I've seen. Not sure what I would do if we had a big landscape changing event Like a wildfire sweep through here. I guess the same as you, just go on with life and pick up the pieces.
Still want to get out there and do the island walk but I'm sure the trails have been badly damaged too. I was thinking about doing it this fall and I have to say I wonder how I would have fared though this.
Keep on going Todd!
I took a look down the portion of the confederation trail near my place from the road yesterday and it's completely blocked by trees. It will take some time to clean that up. All I'm seeing are dump trucks full of trees. Quite a shame.
I'm still saddened by the loss of an old maple of ours. There's not many maples left on my property. I spent the day cutting up that maple. I also temporarily wired up my water heater to the generator to get some hot water so we could all take much needed showers. Funny how a shower can boost your spirit! I also got the remote/electric start working again on the generator. A connection had worked loose. The south shore lost a lot of waterfront as well. We know a lady who lost about 20 feet. Her house is now only about 25 feet from the edge so she has to apply for a line of credit to get the house moved farther inland. My wife is still able to prepare great meals thanks to our Instant Pot and air fryer. These are great appliances to have if you only have power from a small generator! No word as to when we will get power. Last I heard only about 30% of PEI residents had it. There were over 480 poles destroyed on the island. I have quite a few photos to share if I ever get power (or free data) .
Still no power at my place. I did hear half the island has power back so maybe by the end of the weekend? Irving had a fuel truck set up at the ferry terminal giving away free gas (max 40l) yesterday. We drove down with the gas can but there were about 70 cars ahead of us. We didn't need the gas that badly and figured there are likely folks who needed it more than we did so we didn't bother waiting. We have friends from Ontario who have a cottage here. They arrived two weeks ago and hoped to stay until Thanksgiving. One of them has ALS. He was diagnosed a year ago at age 60 and has gone from healthy to now having a hard time walking and needing a feeding tube- you just never know what the future holds. It's been too tough dealing with tube feeding etc without electricity so they flew home yesterday. I'm heading to Charlottetown today to pick up their vehicle and will store it over the winter in the outbuilding. Luckily their cottage didn't have any damage. The cottage is close to the north shore.
Im happy that we didnt have to deal with what Florida has to deal with. I thought losing a bunch of trees was a pain in the ass, after seeing what they have to deal with it definitely puts things in perspective. Heartbreaking to see the destruction. Completely decimated.
