Storm Fiona ravages Canada's east coast causing 'terrifying' destruction

STEPHENVILLE, Newfoundland, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Powerful storm Fiona ripped into eastern Canada on Saturday with hurricane-force winds, forcing evacuations, knocking down trees and powerlines, and reducing many homes on the coast to "just a pile of rubble in the ocean."

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the center of the storm, downgraded to Post-Tropical Cyclone Fiona, was now in the Gulf of St. Lawrence after racing through Nova Scotia.

After taking its toll on Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (PEI), the storm battered Newfoundland and Eastern Quebec, but is now likely to weaken, the NHC said.

Port aux Basques, on the southwest tip of Newfoundland with a population of 4,067, declared a state of emergency and evacuated parts of the town that suffered flooding and road washouts, according to Mayor Brian Button.

Several homes and an apartment building were dragged out to sea, Rene Roy, editor-in-chief of Wreckhouse Weekly in Port aux Basques, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

"This is hands down the most terrifying thing I've ever seen in my life," Roy said, describing many homes as "just a pile of rubble in the ocean right now."

"There is an apartment building that's literally gone. There are entire streets that are gone," he added.

Police are investigating whether a woman had been swept to sea, CBC reported.

"We've gone through a very difficult morning," Button said in a Facebook video, adding that the evacuations had been completed. "We'll get through this. I promise you we will get through it."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a meeting on Saturday morning with members of a government emergency response team, and will brief reporters at about 4:30 pm ET (2030 GMT), a spokeswoman said.

"Our government stands ready to support the provinces with additional resources," Trudeau said in a Tweet.

Fiona, which nearly a week ago battered Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean, killed at least eight and knocked out power for virtually all of Puerto Rico's 3.3 million people during a sweltering heat wave.

Fiona made landfall between Canso and Guysborough, Nova Scotia, where the Canadian Hurricane Centre said it recorded what may have been the lowest barometric pressure of any storm to hit land in the country's history.

Ian Hubbard, meteorologist for the Canadian Hurricane Centre, told Reuters it appears Fiona lived up to expectations that it would be a "historical" storm.

"It did look like it had the potential to break the all-time record in Canada, and it looks like it did," he said. "We're still not out of this yet."

Storms are not uncommon in the region and typically cross over rapidly, but Fiona is expected to impact a very large area.

While scientists have not yet determined whether climate change influenced Fiona's strength or behavior, there is strong evidence that these devastating storms are getting worse. read more