Hurricanes: Canada heals its wounds after Fiona, Florida and Cuba await Ian

Never had the authorities of the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia seen such a storm.

Canada saw this Sunday the extent of the devastation after the passage of Hurricane Fiona, now a post-tropical storm which weakens as it goes north.

The toll has increased, the province of Prince Edward Island announcing this Sunday afternoon a death, while a woman was still missing in that of Newfoundland, and that some 300,000 homes remained without electricity.

A 73-year-old woman remains missing after being washed away in Channel-Port-aux-Basques, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland, the city's mayor, Brian Button, confirmed on Sunday.

In this locality, more than 20 houses were destroyed and 200 residents evacuated.

VIDEO.

500,000 homes without power… Storm Fiona hits eastern Canada

“We need to give ourselves some time.

We cannot return to normal in a day,” said Brian Button via Facebook Live, as his city bears the marks of Fiona’s passage: heaps of debris, metal barriers twisted by the gigantic waves… Some homes will be deprived of current "for several days", warned the director of the operator Nova Scotia Power, Peter Gregg.

Port Aux Basques, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland, bears the scars of the passage of the hurricane.

REUTERS/John Morris JOHN MORRIS

"At the end of the day, this will be the most damaging storm we've ever seen," Tim Houston, premier of one of the hardest-hit provinces, Nova Scotia, told CBC News. .

A hundred soldiers will also be deployed in the province of Prince Edward Island to participate in the clearing and reconstruction work, which will take "weeks or more", warned the local authorities.

The hurricane had already killed at least seven people last week, including four in Puerto Rico, two in the Dominican Republic and one in Guadeloupe.

Another storm coming

Cuba and the US state of Florida were preparing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Ian.

The US National Hurricane Center has issued a "hurricane warning" for several regions of Cuba (Isla de Juventud, Pinar Del Rio, and Artemisa).

The storm was around 6 p.m. GMT 865 km from the western end of the island, according to the same source.

The NHC predicts Ian to become a "major" hurricane within the next 24 to 48 hours, meaning, according to its nomenclature, capable of inflicting "devastating" damage, damaging homes, uproot trees and disrupt the supply of water and electricity.

Ian should go up, via the Gulf of Mexico, towards Florida, which has already begun to take precautions.

NASA has given up on the takeoff scheduled for Tuesday of its new mega rocket for the Moon, from the Kennedy Space Center which is located in this southern state of the United States.

US President Joe Biden has placed Florida under a “state of emergency”, which allows federal aid to be released, while Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has called on residents on Twitter to “take precautions”.

Joe Biden also gave up a trip that should have taken him to Florida on Tuesday.

In various localities across the state, authorities were beginning to distribute sandbags to protect homes from the risk of flooding.

“Now is the time to prepare.

Don't wait until it's too late,” tweeted Jane Castor, mayor of Tampa, a city the NHC says is on Ian's path.