Hurricane Fiona drenched Bermuda with heavy rain and buffeted the Atlantic island with hurricane-force winds on Friday as it tracked northward towards eastern Canada, where it threatens to become one of the most severe storms in Canadian history.
Fiona had already battered a series of Caribbean islands earlier in the week, killing at least eight people and knocking out power for almost all of Puerto Rico's 3.3 million people during a sweltering heatwave.
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The arrival of Hurricane Fiona in Canada has led to damage in the east of the country, as seen here in Stephenville, Newfoundland. Reuters -
The banner of a restaurant dangles in the wind after the arrival of Hurricane Fiona in Newfoundland. Reuters -
A home teeters on the brink amid high winds caused by Fiona in Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador. AP -
A fallen tree lies on a crushed pickup truck following the passing of Hurricane Fiona in Nova Scotia, Canada. Reuters -
Una Rajnis points out damage as she and her parents walk around their neighbourhood to check out the wreckage following the passing of Hurricane Fiona in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Reuters -
Vehicles turn around as trees and fallen power lines block a road after Fiona hit Cape Breton Island in eastern Canada. AFP -
Power lines damaged by Fiona rest against a home in Sydney, Nova Scotia. AFP -
Waves coming ashore at L'Étang-du-Nord on Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine in the Canadian province of Quebec. AP -
A satellite image shows the storm over eastern Canada. AFP -
A Canadian flag struggles against the high winds in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. AP -
Puerto Rico's power supply has been knocked out after Hurricane Fiona made landfall, causing 'catastrophic' flooding and landslides. AFP -
Asphalt was torn from roads and a major road bridge swept away after torrential rain. Reuters -
Puerto Rico governor Pedro Pierluisi said: 'This has been catastrophic.' Reuters -
Some river levels in Puerto Rico rose by up to six metres in only a few hours. AP -
The centre of the storm made landfall on the south-western coast of Puerto Rico near Punta Tocon. AP -
Fiona was barrelling towards the Dominican Republic on Monday. AFP -
Hurricane Fiona brought sustained winds of 140 kph to Puerto Rico. EPA -
A satellite image of Hurricane Fiona in the Caribbean. AP -
A roof was ripped off this home in Loiza, Puerto Rico. AP
Overnight, the storm approached Bermuda as a Category 4 storm but diminished a notch to Category 3 as it passed west of the British territory. Still, gusts reached as high as 165 kilometres per hour, the Bermuda Weather Service said.
The Bermuda Electric Light Company, the island's sole power provider, said about 29,000 customers, or more than 80 per cent of its customer base, had no electricity on Friday morning.
But Michelle Pitcher, deputy director of the Bermuda Weather Service, said the territory appeared to be largely unscathed.
“It's been a long night but there are no reports of injuries or fatalities,” she said. “There may be people with roof damage, but so far, we haven't heard of anything bad. As I said, we build our houses strong.”
Many Bermuda homes are built with small shuttered windows, slate roofs and limestone blocks to withstand frequent hurricanes.
By late Friday morning, Hurricane Fiona was about 970km south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Canada's eastern coast, moving north at 56kph with maximum sustained winds of 215kph, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
When it arrives in Nova Scotia on Saturday morning, Fiona is expected to make landfall as a powerful post-tropical storm bigger than Hurricane Juan in 2003 and stronger than Hurricane Dorian in 2019, Canadian Hurricane Centre meteorologist Bob Robichaud said at a briefing.
“Where it fits in the history books, we'll have to make that determination after the fact but it is going to be certainly a historic, extreme event for eastern Canada,” Mr Robichaud said.
Fiona is expected to hit Canada's Cape Breton Island, home to about 135,000 people, or 15 per cent of Nova Scotia's population, Environment Canada said on Friday.
A hurricane warning was in effect for most of central and eastern Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. The eye will move across Nova Scotia later on Friday, into the Gulf of St Lawrence on Saturday and over Labrador on Sunday.
Forecasters say areas close to its path could get up to 200 millimetres of rain, while winds could damage buildings and cause cuts to utilities, with storm surges swamping the coastlines. The country's two largest airlines, Air Canada and WestJet Airlines, are suspending regional service starting on Friday evening.
An estimated 928,000 homes and businesses were still without power in Puerto Rico on Friday morning after Fiona caused an island-wide power cut, PowerOutage.us reported.
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The aftermath of tropical storm Fiona in Capesterre-Belle-Eau, on the French island of Guadeloupe in the southern Caribbean Sea. All photos: AFP -
The storm ripped through the archipelago, causing one death, before moving towards Puerto Rico. -
Water surges ashore next to the Marina de Riviere-Sens, near Basse-Terre on Guadeloupe. -
Water rushes under a bridge in Basse-Terre. -
A pedestrian surveys the damage. -
Trees were ripped out of the ground and houses were damaged in Capesterre-Belle-Eau. -
High seas and stormy skies at the coast of Capesterre-Belle-Eau. -
A cyclist negotiates a flooded street in Capesterre-Belle-Eau. -
The storm brought torrential rain and floods to the island. -
Water rages at the Marina de Riviere-Sens, near Basse-Terre. -
More damage from the storm in Capesterre-Belle-Eau. -
The Marina de Riviere-Sens was inundated with water. -
The storm caused a road to collapse in Capesterre-Belle-Eau. -
Debris was deposited on a street following the storm. -
Homes were destroyed in the storm, leaving behind a major clean-up operation.
