Hurricane Lee Tracking from Environment Canada Sep 15 2023

Utility officials say they have learned lessons over the past year and are better prepared to deal with the impacts of Hurricane Lee.

At a news conference Friday, representatives of Nova Scotia Power, Bell and Eastlink joined emergency management officials, Environment Canada meteorologists and Minister John Lohr to describe how they have anticipated the needs ahead of the storm as well as their plans for recovery.

Following Hurricane Fiona in 2022, several parts of the province were without cell service for an extended period of time.

Representatives from both Eastlink and Bell say their respective companies have taken several steps to prevent outages and keep any down time to a minimum.

Those include spending tens of millions of dollars to ensure they have generators in key places, securing fuel to keep their emergency fleets on the roads, and ensuring personnel from out of province are ready to provide support should they be called upon.

Geoff Moore with Bell Canada says Nova Scotians can expect to see improvements in the aspects of their service that can be predicted and controlled, but there are situations that will arise for which they can’t plan.

“We can control the cell site, we can control fuel, we can control having batteries on sites, we can control our response, what we can’t control is this damage, excuse me, the damage the storm does. So if there’s fiber cables broken, if there’s you know, poles down that are impacting that connection, or that fiber connection, excuse me, to the cell site, those are things that I can’t plan for,” said Moore.

“I can plan to respond, make sure I’ve got the right resources, the right equipment, the right material, but I don’t know where that’s going to happen so we’re very much dependent, if you wish, on what the storm does and where it does it.”

Nova Scotia Power says over 10,000 trees were trimmed following Fiona. The utility says it spent $32 million in 2023 on tree trimming and plans to increase that amount to $40 million in 2024.

Environment Canada Meteorologist Bob Robichaud says the hurricane is expected to become a post tropical storm by the time it makes landfall in Nova Scotia.

Robichaud says some people may have the mistaken idea that the change in designation to post tropical storm may mean a less powerful event.

“What we mean by post tropical is essentially the structure of the storm is different. It says nothing about the intensity,” said Robichaud. “So, we expect this storm, as it approaches and as it gets close to the coastline, to be very close to hurricane strength. We’re thinking just below, but it will still be a large storm that’s very near hurricane strength at the time.”

The winds are forecast to reach speeds up to 120km/h by the time Hurricane Lee reaches Nova Scotia Saturday morning. The region could see up to 150mm of rain beginning Friday and continuing throughout Saturday.

Rain, wind and storm surge warnings have been issued for the South Shore, including Queens County.

Emergency officials are asking residents to be prepared with supplies, food and fresh water to last 72 hours.

To hear the broadcast of this story click play below.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

Bob Robichaud, Meteorologist, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Screen capture from Communications Nova Scotia Zoom conference Aug 24, 2023

The province is warning Nova Scotians now is the time to prepare for an active hurricane season.

Officials from Environment Canada, Nova Scotia Power, the Red Cross and the province’s Emergency Management Office gathered together Thursday to announce an information campaign designed to inform Nova Scotians on how to ready themselves for the upcoming season.

Meteorologist Bob Robichaud says the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting 14 to 21 named storms, six to 10 hurricanes and two to five major hurricanes before the end of the year.

Robichaud says those numbers are higher than initially predicted in May and include storm activity across the entire Atlantic Ocean.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that a lot of those storms will approach Atlantic Canada or have any kind of impact on Nova Scotia but we always have to be ready for that one or two storms that might impact us,” said Robichaud.

As an example, Robichaud pointed to Hurricane Fiona and the damage it caused in September of 2022.

Robichaud was asked about Hurricane Franklin and says it is currently about 1,200km southwest of Bermuda, tracking northeast. It’s expected to reach category 2 status as it moves north over the weekend.

As of Thursday, modelling shows the hurricane will track south of Nova Scotia but Robichaud says even if it does turn towards the province it won’t be anywhere close to the power of Fiona.

He encourages people to follow trusted weather forecasting sites to get information about impending storms.

Operations Manager with the Canadian Red Cross of Nova Scotia, Ancel Langille says it’s important for families to have an emergency plan and kit ready ahead of storm season.

“Your kit should include things that will make a stay away from home more comfortable for you and your family,” said Langille. “Things like clothing, medications, if you have children some toys and games, if you have pets prepare a kit for them as well with the leash, some food, water, medications for them, a pet carrier [is] something great to have on hand. If you have a vehicle, make sure it’s full of gas before the storm arrives and it’s always great to have some cash on hand.”

Langille added if there is time, it’s a good idea to take photos or videos of the rooms of your house before you need to evacuate so you have a record to provide to your insurance company.

John Lohr, the minister responsible for emergency management in Nova Scotia says the province works closely with municipalities through the provincial control centre in times of emergency.

Lohr says the province is preparing for the upcoming Hurricane Season.

“And I would like to encourage all Nova Scotians to take some time now before a storm or weather warning is issued to our region to do the same,” said Lohr. “Before an event happens is a good time to sit down with your family and talk things over, check to see what may need to be done around your house or cottage make a plan and prepare.”

The province will be running an information campaign across social and traditional media over the next four weeks.

Updates and tips from Nova Scotia’s emergency management office are available at their website: https://novascotia.ca/Alerts

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

To listen to the radio broadcast, press play below.