Canada sends troops to help clear Hurricane Fiona’s devastation

Hurricane Fiona left hundreds of thousands without power in eastern Canada, as officials try to assess the damage.

The Canadian military has been mobilised after Hurricane Fiona left hundreds of thousands of people in Atlantic Canada without power and officials try to assess the scope of the devastation.

After surging north from the Caribbean, Fiona came ashore before dawn on Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone, battering Canada’s regions of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricane-strength winds, heavy rains and huge waves.

Canada’s Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said the damage caused by the Fiona was never seen before, and it will take months to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure.

As of Sunday morning, more than 256,000 Nova Scotia Power customers and more than 82,000 Maritime Electric customers in the province of Prince Edward Island – about 95 percent of the total – remained in the dark.

PEI [Prince Edward Island] has experienced storm damage like they’ve never seen.