Lots of warnings are in effect for our area as hurricane Fiona barrels toward Atlantic Canada.
Areas including Greater Moncton and Southeast New Brunswick are under rainfall, wind, tropical storm, and storm surge warnings.
Jill Maepea, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said conditions will start to deteriorate on Friday evening.
“It will be overnight tonight that the worst conditions are anticipated, generally between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m.,” Maepea said on Friday morning.
Wind gusts up to 100 kilometres an hour are expected Friday night and Saturday morning, with the risk of downed trees, causing power outages.
Environment Canada is forecasting up to 120 millimetres of rain, also beginning late Friday night and continuing into Saturday morning.
This could result in flooded or even washed-out roads, and elevated river levels, the weather agency said.
Maepea said the storm surge is expected to coincide with high tide on Saturday morning.
“We are expecting some coastal flooding and waves generally between as high as six to eight metres,” she said.
The projected track for hurricane Fiona issued by the Canadian Hurricane Centre at 9 a.m. on Sept. 23. Image: Submitted/Canadian Hurricane Centre
At 11 a.m. Friday, the centre of hurricane Fiona was located about 405 kilometres north of Bermuda and 970 kilometres south of Halifax, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Centre.
Maximum sustained winds are at 215 kilometres per hour, making it a strong category 4 storm, and it is moving to the northeast at 56 kilometres per hour.
The centre of the storm, which the Canadian Hurricane Centre said looks to be a “historic” event for eastern Canada, is expected to make landfall in eastern mainland Nova Scotia or Cape Breton early Saturday.
In Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, which are expected to see the brunt of the storm, some areas could see up to 200 millimetres of rain, wind gusts up 150 kilometres per hour, and waves of eight to 12 metres in height.
NB Power crews are on standby and anticipate impacts and outages to New Brunswickers as a result of Fiona.
The utility currently has over 400 field resources available to respond in all districts when outages occur.
These resources are NB Power crews and additional contractor crews, who are on hand as a precautionary measure.
Meantime, several campgrounds located along the water in Southeast New Brunswick, are warning campers of this weekend’s storm.
Several campgrounds in Cap-Pele are advising everyone to leave by tonight, and have told those who choose to stay are doing so at their own risk.
In 2019, during Hurricane Dorian, many seasonal trailers were lost due to storm surges that caused severe flooding.
With files from Brad Perry
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