Emergency Measures in Emergency Times
Described as “The most significant rain and wind event Nova Scotia has seen in close to 20 years,” Hurricane Fiona prompted provincial officials to ask for help from the military.
While thousands of volunteers are busy in clean-up, the devastation was so extensive the task is daunting.
Nearly half of the province lost power at some point through the night. Estimates for restoring service range from Monday to Thursday across the Six Rivers region.
Trees were down all over, some knocking out power as they fell. Numerous power poles were simply snapped under the constant 100 km/h plus winds.
Damage to roofs and other structures is common and wide-spread. A farm on Pugwash Point Road lost nearly half of its roof. Roof damage is also visible on the new Pugwash Library, a roof just built and shingle two days ago.
There was extensive damage at the Bill Mundle Marina and Pugwash Yacht club. A few vessels where blown onto the rocky shore, while the floating docks were twisted, pushed toward land, or torn apart.
Damage in Eaton Park is shocking, as armour stone was driven ashore by the massive storm surge. Much of the boardwalk has been destroyed, similar to the impact of Hurricane Dorian. The most damage is near the Lobster Factory which, at one point, was nearly surrounded by water.
Water Street took the biggest hit with trees, power poles, and power lines knocked down. Hover, the house at the end of the street, next to Thinkers Lodge had to be evacuated in the dark of night. The storm surged over the rocks breaking through the house wall and flooding all the contents.
In another emergency call, two people were trapped in an overturned travel trailer on Gulf Shore Road. Firefighters had to cut through the roof the free them. Each suffered minor injuries.
In a truly sad tale, a house was destroyed by fire along Highway 6 near Wallace Bridge. Firefighters were called to a portable generator on fire, but as they approached the scene the entire highway blocked by a huge fallen tree.
The Wallace Fire Department was also called and their response was also blocked by a downed tree on their side of the bridge.
The firefighters could see the fire jumped to the house as they were held at bay.
They suited up and walked in, eventually setting up a porta-tank water supply, but the blaze was too advanced.
Water was also a concern for a while in Oxford as some residents reported low pressure. Town officials located the problem at their water source and full pressure was restored.
Today’s issues include a shortage of gas. The Esso station in Pugwash could not serve gas while the power was off. Other stations in the area were able to pump, and pump they did, running out of gas in Wallace and Oxford, though the station in Oxford still had diesel at last report.
Cumberland EMO and the fire departments are going to try to maintain the emergency service as long as power is out.
The photos show scenes around Pugwash, including downed trees and power lines, with damage in Eaton Park, the Pugwash Yacht Club, and the popular Inn the Elms.
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