Hurricane Fiona makes landfall in Canada: US NHC

WASHINGTON: Hurricane Fiona made landfall in eastern Canada’s Nova Scotia early on Saturday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, with maximum winds of 90 miles (144 kilometers) per hour.

“Fiona is expected to affect portions of Atlantic Canada as a powerful hurricane-force cyclone today, and significant impacts from high winds, storm surge, and heavy rainfall are expected,” the NHC said.

The US National Hurricane Center said the centre of the storm, Post-Tropical Cyclone Fiona, was crossing eastern Nova Scotia, bringing high winds and heavy rains.

The storm had weakened somewhat as it travelled north. The storm was about 255km northeast of Halifax, carrying maximum winds of 150kph and barrelling north at around 43kph, the NHC said.

Experts predicted high winds, storm surges and heavy rainfall from Fiona.
Although a gradual weakening was forecast during the next couple of days, Fiona was expected to maintain hurricane-force winds until Saturday afternoon, the NHC said.