Ferocious Fiona batters Canada with hurricane-force winds, heavy rain, thousands without power

 

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 Hurricane Fiona slammed into Atlantic Canada early Saturday leaving a trail of destruction, hundreds of thousands without electricity and leading Cape Breton Island to declare a state of emergency.

Roads were closed due to fallen trees, many were without power, and residents were warned to shelter in place on Cape Breton, an island of about 132,000 off the eastern coast off Nova Scotia.

In Nova Scotia, more than 405,000 were without power and New Brunswick had more than 55,000 power outages.

By late Saturday, Fiona's intensity is expected to decrease somewhat in the Maritimes but will still pack powerful winds and rain and will move into Quebec.

Fiona was the strongest hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic basion season and at one point was a Category 4 with sustained winds around 140 mph.

The National Hurricane Center said the storm system had sustained winds of around 105 mph and a pressure of 933 millibars, making it one of the strongest cyclones to ever impact the eastern parts of the country.