Hurricane Larry causes widespread damage, power outage in NL

Several thousand people remain without power

Hurricane Larry causes widespread damage, power outage in NL

Insurance News

By Lyle Adriano

Strong winds, heavy precipitation, and storm surge caused by Hurricane Larry led to extensive property damage and power outages in eastern Newfoundland.

Larry made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane; it generated winds with speeds of 120 km/h, sometimes even as high as 180 km/h in some areas. The gusts were so strong, they managed to knock down trees and power lines throughout the region, as well as causing damage to buildings.

“Hurricane Larry caused a considerable amount of damage to trees and property throughout our city,” said St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen at a news conference last Saturday, adding that “it could have been much worse.”

Newfoundland Power reported that as of Sunday, about 5,500 people were still without power, though during the storm as many as 60,000 people experienced power failure.

The hurricane also disrupted voting procedures in the region; Elections Canada had warned that advanced polling stations in the federal districts of Avalon, St. John's East and St. John's South-Mount-Pearl were closed due to the power outages. They are expected to reopen this week.

The hurricane also brought some heavy rain to some areas, with about 30 millimetres of rain in a very short amount of time, CBC News reported.

Following the hurricane’s passage, cleanup crews have been hard at work clearing the resulting debris. One of the province’s main roads, Route 90, remains closed (as of Sunday) due to reported major damage.

The Canadian Hurricane Center has noted that in the past 70 years, only 23 hurricanes or post-tropical storms of hurricane strength have made landfall in Canada.

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