Search continues for captain of Canadian-built ship that sank during hurricane

By Emery P. Dalesio, The Associated Press - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 11:52 AM - 0 Comments

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – The Coast Guard used ships and airplanes to search the Atlantic on Tuesday for the captain of the HMS Bounty, a Canadian-built ship which went down during Hurricane Sandy.

The Coast Guard was optimistic Robin Walbridge, 63, of St. Petersburg, Fla., could still be alive in his blazing red survival suit 145 kilometres off the North Carolina coast. Walbridge went overboard early Monday when the ship rolled over 5.5-metre waves.

The searched for the replica 18th-century sailing vessel, which was built at Smith and Ruhland Shipyard in Lunenburg, N.S., was hampered by 4.5-metre waves.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into survivability. Right now we’re going to continue to search. Right now we’re hopeful,” Coast Guard Capt. Joe Kelly said.

The Coast Guard rescued 14 crew members of the Bounty by helicopter Monday. Hours later, they found Claudene Christian, 42, unresponsive. She was later declared dead. The rest of the crew was in good condition.

Rochelle Smith, 44, of Thunder Bay, Ont., said she met Christian this summer when they sailed the HMS Bounty in Nova Scotia.

“She loved the Bounty. She absolutely loved it. She was so happy to be on it and doing something that she found that she loved to do,” said Smith.

The search through the night for the captain encompassed 3,366 square kilometres, aided by a Miami-based plane with night-vision capability, he said. A decision on how much longer to search will come later Tuesday, Kelly said.

When the Bounty set sail last week, Walbridge believed he could navigate the ship around the storm. After two days in rough seas, he realized his journey would be far more difficult.

“I think we are going to be into this for several days,” Robin Walbridge said in a message posted Sunday on the vessel’s Facebook site, which reads like a ship’s log of her activities. “We are just going to keep trying to go fast.”

By Monday morning, the vessel had started taking on water, its engines failed and the crew of the stately craft had to abandon ship as it went down in the immense waves.

By the time the first rescue helicopter arrived, all that was visible of the ship was a strobe light atop the mighty vessel’s submerged masts. The roiling Atlantic Ocean had claimed the rest.

The final hours of the HMS Bounty, as it was officially named, were as dramatic as the movies she starred in.

The ship was originally built for the 1962 film “Mutiny on the Bounty” starring Marlon Brando, and it was featured in several other films over the years, including one of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.

The vessel left Connecticut on Thursday with a crew of 11 men and five women, ranging in age from 20 to 66. Everyone aboard knew the journey could be treacherous.

“This will be a tough voyage for Bounty,” read a posting on the ship’s Facebook page that showed a map of its co-ordinates and satellite images of the storm. Photos showed the majestic vessel plying deep blue waters and the crew working in the rigging or keeping watch on the wood-planked deck.

As Sandy’s massive size became more apparent, a post on Saturday tried to soothe any worried supporters: “Rest assured that the Bounty is safe and in very capable hands. Bounty’s current voyage is a calculated decision … NOT AT ALL … irresponsible or with a lack of foresight as some have suggested. The fact of the matter is … A SHIP IS SAFER AT SEA THAN IN PORT!”

But as the storm gathered strength, the Facebook posts grew grimmer. By mid-morning Monday, the last update was short and ominous: “Please bear with us … There are so many conflicting stories going on now. We are waiting for some confirmation.”

Tracie Simonin, director of the HMS Bounty Organization, said the ship tried to stay clear of Sandy’s power.

“It was something that we and the captain of the ship were aware of,” Simonin said.

Coast Guard video of the rescue showed crew members being loaded one by one into a basket before the basket was hoisted into the helicopter.

When they returned to the mainland, some were wrapped in blankets, still wearing the blazing red survival suits they put on to stay warm in the chilly waters.

The survivors received medical attention and were to be interviewed for a Coast Guard investigation. The Coast Guard did not make them available to reporters.

Gary Farber was watching crewman Doug Faunt’s house while his friend sailed. He hasn’t heard from Faunt directly, but made sure he relayed Faunt’s Facebook postings he made as the ship went down, including “The ship sank beneath us, but we swam free and mostly got into two rafts.”

“Doug is a jack-of-all-trades, but I am surprised he was able to get his cellphone and send messages as the ship went down,” Farber said by telephone of his friend.

The Bounty’s captain was from St. Petersburg and learned to sail at age 10, according to his biography on the Bounty’s website. Prior to the Bounty, he served as first mate on the H.M.S. Rose — the Bounty’s sister ship.

“The ship was almost like his home,” said Smith, who met Walbridge in 2010 when she sailed the Bounty. “That’s where he spent most of his time was aboard the ship. He was so full of history and so interesting to talk to. And he knew his sailing stuff.”

Meanwhile, many in Nova Scotia were devastated when they heard the ship had been lost.

Premier Darrell Dexter said the Bounty was a spectacular ship and a symbol of Lunenburg’s proud tradition of shipbuilding.

“It is a sad loss for the community, but no ship is as important as the safety of its crew. I commend everyone involved for their swift action,” Dexter said in a statement late Monday.

Superstorm Sandy starting to weaken, but still bringing more rain

By Allison Jones, The Canadian Press - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 11:18 AM - 0 Comments

TORONTO – A superstorm that hammered parts of Central and Eastern Canada with high winds and heavy rain is now petering out, though its effects will still be felt for days.

Post-tropical storm Sandy began to weaken Tuesday as it churned further inland after lashing the U.S. East Coast, leaving at least 17 people dead and millions without power and transit.

In Canada the storm brought strong winds and rain to southern Ontario and Quebec and a high amount of precipitation to the Maritimes.

A woman was killed in Toronto after she was hit by a falling sign.

At its height Sandy left 150,000 customers without power in Ontario and 50,000 in the dark in Quebec.

High winds continued to whip southern Ontario, particularly around Sarnia, and Quebec City, and warnings for gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour remain in place for those regions. The Bluewater Bridge border crossing in Sarnia saw closures for truck traffic during Tuesday morning.

Sandy brought mixed precipitation to northern Ontario, with snow, ice pellets and freezing rain around Timmins and Cochrane.

The Maritimes could see more than 50 millimetres of rain through Wednesday as Sandy moves east, but most of its precipitation will be from an unrelated system on Sandy’s fringes, according to Environment Canada.

Warning preparedness meteorologist Geoff Coulson said the worst may have passed for most of the central and eastern provinces, but the clouds aren’t parting just yet.

“It’s going to continue to linger because of the slow-moving nature of the storm at this point,” he said.

“We’re still going to be dealing with on and off shower activity through much of southern Ontario and southern Quebec during the course of the next few days.”

As of late Tuesday morning the storm was centred over western Pennsylvania and is expected to then drift north then east, fading away over the St. Lawrence Valley on Thursday, Coulson said.

“For the trick-or-treaters (Wednesday) evening — still dealing with that on-off shower activity and at least in southern Ontario temperatures a little cooler than seasonal by the time the kids head out,” he said.

Sandy began its path of destruction in the Caribbean, where 69 people were killed. In the U.S. the death toll climbed to 18, including several killed by falling trees.

New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial heart closed for a second day and seawater cascading into the still-gaping construction pit at the World Trade Center.

The storm caused the worst damage in the 108-year history of New York’s subway system, and there was no indication of when the largest U.S. transit system would be rolling again.

In New Jersey, Seaside rail lines were washed away and parts of the coast were still under water. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in New York and Long Island, making federal funding available to residents of the area.

New York City’s three major airports remained closed. Flight cancellations were rampant at airports across Canada, with trips called off to cities in the U.S. northeast and beyond.

Superstorm Sandy – 24 hours in photos

By Andrew Tolson - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 11:05 AM - 0 Comments

of Photos

Sandy dumps more than a foot of snow on West Virginia

By Emily Senger - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 9:40 AM - 0 Comments

One dead, thousands without power after Sandy hits Canada

By Emily Senger - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 8:41 AM - 0 Comments

A videographer shoots a house in Toronto on Oct. 30, 2012 after it was crushed by a tree felled in superstorm Sandy. (Frank Gunn/CP)

One woman is dead and thousands of homes and businesses in Ontario and Quebec remain without power Tuesday morning after the eastern part of Canada was hit with the tail end of Hurricane Sandy.

In Toronto, a woman died Monday night after she was hit by a piece of flying debris in the city’s west end. The woman, who the Toronto Star said is believed to be in her 30s, died after a piece of a Staples sign came loose and struck her in a parking lot.

Also in Toronto, a fire on Queen Street West gutted a Roots store and the apartments above it. Though, officials said that strong winds were probably not the sole cause of the fire.

Not only were there downed branches to clean up on Tuesday morning, many in southern Ontario and Quebec also woke up without power.

In Toronto, Toronto Hydro dealt with thousands of power outages across the city. As of Tuesday morning, Toronto Hydro said it was still dealing with 45,000 outages. “Strong wind gusts clocked at more than 60 kilometres per hour brought down trees, branches and power lines across the city,” said a statement issued by the utility provider. Classes in at least 14 schools in Toronto were also cancelled Tuesday as a result of power outages.

Continue…

The latest on Sandy’s turn north to Canada

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 5:30 AM - 0 Comments

TORONTO – Southern Ontario, Quebec and parts of the Maritimes are being lashed by superstorm Sandy this morning as the massive weather system churns its way north.

The destructive post-tropical storm has already wheeled through the northeastern U.S. — where it has been responsible for flooding, widespread power outages and at least 16 deaths — and is now walloping parts of Canada with strong winds and heavy rain.

For forecasters, the sheer size of the storm is what sets it apart.

“It’s huge,” said Rob Kuhn, a severe weather meteorologist with Environment Canada’s Ontario Storm Prediction Centre.

“We’re dealing with strong winds from southern Ontario and eastern lower Michigan, all the way through Quebec into parts of the Maritimes and across a large part of the north eastern states.”

Southern Ontario is expected to bear the brunt of the storm today, with powerful winds being more of a concern for forecasters than the rain. Tens of thousands of customers lost their electricity in both Ontario and Quebec.

“Some of the strongest gusts from this storm in Canada will come in southern Ontario, especially if you’re either over higher ground northwest of Toronto or near the south shore of the Great Lakes,” Kuhn told The Canadian Press.

“There will be some places that will be chiming in with wind gusts close to 100 kilometres per hour.”

Those gusts claimed a life in Toronto Monday night — city police said a woman had been killed by a falling sign as winds blowing at about 65 kilometres per hour whipped the city. Sandy was unleashing its wrath on New York City at the time, but the Canadian Hurricane Centre said the impact of the weather system extended over a thousand kilometres away from the storm.

Many Canadians living in Sandy’s path have already taken to Twitter and Facebook to discuss the power outages, rattling windows and damage to backyards caused by the storm

This morning, wind warnings are in effect for much of souther Ontario, from southern Georgian Bay to Kingston, Ont., and along the St. Lawrence River.

Parts of southern Quebec and southwestern Nova Scotia will also be whipped by strong winds, but the gusts will not be blowing as hard as in Ontario.

As the storm swirls its way north, officials are urging people in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes to take precautions through the day.

At their strongest predicted point, today’s winds could down trees, hurl debris through neighbourhoods, create difficulties for motorists on highways and even make it difficult to walk down a street, said Kuhn.

“If somebody loses their balance, they could get knocked over,” he said.

Rain is also an issue today, but the showers, while they will be heavy, are likely to come in sporadic bursts.

“There’s shots of heavy rain but it doesn’t last long. This is more of a wind storm,” Kuhn said.

Southern Ontario expects between 20-40 millimetres of rain, although some areas could see higher amounts, while southern and central Quebec could also see some showers, according to Environment Canada.

The precipitation could turn into snow over parts of Ontario and western Quebec, said Environment Canada.

The southwestern Maritimes are also likely to experience a soggy day with rain that could persist into Wednesday with total amounts which could exceed 50 millimetres.

Higher than normal water levels and pounding surf is expected along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and along the St. Lawrence River. Forecasters are warning that some coastal flooding could be seen in the Quebec City region.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has said the military and the Canadian Coast Guard are on standby to help grapple with any havoc wreaked by Sandy.

Health Canada is conducting generator checks and has reviewed the National Emergency Stockpile, which contains supplies such as beds, blankets and antibiotics. Meanwhile, the Red Cross says it has 550 volunteers on standby in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces.

Sandy is expected to weaken through the day, but it will be a slow process.

“The winds will slowly start to slack off later this morning and this afternoon, but it’s going to be a very gradual process,” said Kuhn.

Environment Canada expects winds in Ontario to drop to between 40 and 60 kilometres per hour this afternoon and predicts gusts between 30 and 50 kilometres an hour by tonight.

Sandy made landfall in the U.S. Monday evening, just after forecasters stripped it of hurricane status, but the distinction was purely technical, based on its shape and internal temperature.

It still packed hurricane-force wind, and forecasters were careful to say it was still dangerous to the tens of millions in its path.

The storm killed 69 people in the Caribbean before making its way up the Atlantic.

Crew abandons Canadian-built ship hit by storm, captain still missing

By The Associated Press - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 4:14 AM - 0 Comments

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – A Canadian-built replica 18th-century sailing vessel got caught in Hurricane Sandy’s wrath and began taking on water Monday, forcing the crew into lifeboats in rough seas off the North Carolina coast.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 people by helicopter and spent much of the day searching for two missing crew members.

One of them, 42-year-old Claudene Christian, was found unresponsive in the water on Monday evening.

The coast guard said was taken to a hospital in Elizabeth City, where she was later pronounced dead.

Rescuers continued to search for the missing captain of HMS Bounty, 63-year-old Robin Walbridge.

Both Christian and Walbridge were wearing survival suits designed to help keep them afloat and protected from cold waters for up to 15 hours.

Carol Everson, general manager of the pier where the vessel docks, said Walbridge was from St. Petersburg.

Walbridge learned to sail at age 10, according to his biography on the Bounty’s website. Prior to the Bounty, he served as first mate on the HMS Rose — the Bounty’s sister ship.

Earlier in the day, Coast Guard rescue swimmer Randy Haba helped pluck several crew members off a 25-foot rubber life raft. He was also lowered to a crew member floating in the water alone. He wrapped a strap around his body, and raised him to the chopper.

“It’s one of the biggest seas I’ve ever been in. It was huge out there,” Haba said.

The HMS Bounty — which was built at Smith and Ruhland Shipyard in Lunenburg, N.S. for the 1962 film “Mutiny on the Bounty” — had left Connecticut last week en route to Florida.

“They were staying in constant contact with the National Hurricane Center,” said Tracie Simonin, the director of the HMS Bounty Organization. “They were trying to make it around the storm.”

The Coast Guard received a call from the ship’s owner late Sunday, saying communication had been lost with the crew. The Coast Guard later received an emergency distress call from the Bounty, confirming its position.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Robert Parker, Operational Commander for the Atlantic Area, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the ship had taken on about three metres of water when the crew abandoned it.

Amid high winds and 5.5-metre seas, two helicopters flew in for the rescue around dawn Monday, plucking crew members from the lifeboats.

Lunenburg Mayor Laurence Mahwinney called the incident a tragedy, saying the town’s residents were praying for the safety of the crew members.

Meanwhile, Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter said he hoped all the ship’s crew and their rescuers would make it home safely.

“The Bounty was a spectacular ship and a symbol of Lunenburg’s proud tradition of shipbuilding,” Dexter said in a statement released Monday. “It is a sad loss for the community, but no ship is as important as the safety of its crew. I commend everyone involved for their swift action.”

Gerald Zwicker, 76, who worked on the building of the HMS Bounty in 1960, said he was devastated when he heard the ship had been abandoned.

“I really feel bad about it. It’s a piece of history gone. It’s a big loss,” he said in an interview from his home in southern Nova Scotia.

“They were talking about that hurricane all last week. They should have been out of that area.”

Zwicker recalled making $1.12 per hour as a labourer who handled enormous pieces of timber and wielding an adze to carve out the ribs on the vessel’s hull.

“We were proud to have built her. It was the only vessel ever built that I worked on that was used for a movie,” he said.

Zwicker last visited the ship in August when the replica docked in Nova Scotia for a tall ships festival. He proudly showed family members the bowsprit and stern and explained the details of his work.

Ralph Getson, a historian at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, said residents of the community and shipwrights considered HMS Bounty an example of the province’s shipbuilding heritage and are saddened by its loss.

“Those fellows worked. There wasn’t much to make your job easy. It was hand work … It was an example of Nova Scotian craftmanship,” he said.

Those rescued Monday were taken to Elizabeth City. Most of the crew were in their 30s, although one man appeared to be in his 70s, Coast Guard officials said.

The mother of one of the crew members said she had talked to her daughter after the rescue. Mary Ellen Sprague said her 20-year-old daughter Anna Sprague had been aboard the HMS Bounty since May. The ship had travelled to London, then to St. Petersburg, Fla., and was going to spend the winter in Galveston, Texas.

“She was probably the youngest member of the crew,” Mary Ellen Sprague said.

She said she hadn’t learned many details yet because her daughter, normally talkative and outgoing, was being uncharacteristically quiet.

She was very upset because the ship’s captain and another crew member were still missing at the time, Sprague said from her home in Savannah, Ga.

The Bounty has docked off and on over the years at The Pier in St. Petersburg, Florida., and was scheduled to eventually arrive there in November, said Everson.

“It’s devastating,” Everson said. “Obviously you want all of the crew to be safe. It’s a shame that the vessel has gone down because it’s a tremendous piece of history.”

The ship was permanently docked in St. Petersburg for many decades. In 1986, it was bought by Ted Turner, and in 2001, it was purchased by its current owner, New York businessman named Robert Hansen.

About 10 years ago, the ship underwent a multi-million dollar restoration.

— With files from Canadian Press reporter Michael Tutton in Halifax and CKBW.

Superstorm Sandy vs. CNN’s Ali Velshi

By Aaron Hutchins - Monday, October 29, 2012 at 11:25 PM - 0 Comments

Hurricane Sandy vs. CNN’s Ali Velshi

Storified by Maclean’s Magazine · Mon, Oct 29 2012 20:22:48

Updated: Superstorm Sandy churns its way toward Canada, high winds, rain

By The Canadian Press - Monday, October 29, 2012 at 9:22 PM - 0 Comments

TORONTO – People across central and eastern Canada hunkered down to face powerful winds and a deluge of rain as approaching superstorm Sandy hit the U.S. and gradually wheeled its way north.

The impact of the weather system extended over a thousand kilometres away from the storm, according to the Canadian Hurrican Centre, with southern Ontario and Quebec experiencing high wind gusts and periods of heavy rain on Monday night.

In Toronto, police said a woman had been killed by a falling sign as strong winds whipped the city. A spokesman said witnesses reported the woman was struck while walking through a parking lot as winds gusted around 65 kilometres per hour.

The Hurricane Centre said northerly winds were increasing over southern Ontario Monday night, with some areas reporting gusts above 80 kilometres per hour which were expected to get stronger. Meanwhile, south western Nova Scotia was also being whipped by gusty winds.

Officials warned residents in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes to prepare, though the East Coast of the United States was expected to bear the brunt of the unusually large storm.

Sandy, which forecasters downgraded from a hurricane to an intense post-tropical storm, made landfall in New Jersey early Monday evening. It was expected to continue to churn north and northwest, lashing parts of Canada Monday night.

Forecasters warned that the change in the storm’s status was purely technical, based on its shape and internal temperature. It still packed hurricane-force wind, and remained dangerous to those in its path.

Southern Ontario and Quebec were expected to see the strongest winds, with gusts up to 100 kilometres per hour and between 20 to 40 millimetres of rain, although higher amounts were possible in some areas.

That will make for a soggy Tuesday, but that level wasn’t enough to trigger a rainfall warning.

Starting Tuesday morning, the Maritime provinces will see a lot more rain — up to 50 millimetres — and weaker winds than Ontario, though still strong at an expected 70 kilometres per hour.

The precipitation could turn into snow over parts of Ontario and western Quebec, said Environment Canada.

But it’s not the force of the winds or the amount of rain that sets this storm apart from others, it’s the sheer size of it, said Canadian Hurricane Centre spokesman Bob Robichaud.

“Usually a tropical system is a bit more compact than this and it doesn’t affect quite as large an area,” he said.

“This particular system is going to affect everywhere from southern Ontario, even into northern Ontario, and all the way to the Maritimes.”

The storm is also expected to whip up the water, generating waves of up to seven metres in Lake Huron. The Quebec Storm Prediction Centre issued storm surge warnings for pounding waves in the Gaspe and north shore of the St. Lawrence River. The south shore of Nova Scotia could also see several-metre high waves.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in a statement that the military and the Canadian Coast Guard are on standby. Health Canada is conducting generator checks and has reviewed the National Emergency Stockpile, he said.

The stockpile, maintained by the Public Health Agency of Canada, contains supplies such as beds, blankets and antibiotics.

John Byrne, the director general of disaster management for the Red Cross, said the organization had 550 volunteers on standby in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces.

Utility companies in Ontario were preparing for the onslaught of the storm by having crews ready to respond to any calls about damage. By Monday night, more than 15,000 customers were without power in the province.

Emergency Management Ontario warned the storm may result in flooding, road closures and power failure. It said people should put away any objects that can be blown away by wind, such as garbage lids and Halloween decorations, to prevent damage or injury.

Nova Scotia’s Emergency Management Office said residents who live along the coast should watch out for pounding surf and high winds, particularly in the southwestern corner of the province.

In Fredericton, that city’s Emergency Measures Organization told residents to keep catch basins near their homes clear of leaves and other debris to prevent localized flooding.

Hundreds of flights leaving from airports across Canada bound for the U.S. East Coast were cancelled. At Toronto’s international airport, one-quarter of all of flights departing Monday were cancelled.

Airlines advised travellers to check the status of their flight ahead of time.

Sandy was blamed for more than 60 deaths as it churned across the Caribbean.

In the U.S., thousands of people from Maryland to Connecticut were ordered to leave low-lying coastal areas, including 375,000 in lower Manhattan and other parts of New York City, 50,000 in Delaware and 30,000 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the city’s 12 casinos shut down for only the fourth time ever.

President Barack Obama declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, authorizing federal relief work to begin well ahead of time.

In an attempt to lessen damage from the storm, New York City’s main utility cut power to about 6,500 customers in lower Manhattan. Authorities worried that seawater would seep into the New York subway and cripple it, along with the electrical and communications systems that are vital to the nation’s financial centre.

Major U.S. financial markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, planned a rare shutdown for a second consecutive day Tuesday. The United Nations also shut down Monday.

New Yorkers shrug at Sandy

By Claire Ward - Monday, October 29, 2012 at 7:44 PM - 0 Comments

The Naked Cowboy stands tall Monday in the face of the storm. (Claire Ward, Maclean's)

NEW YORK — Ambivalence was widespread in Manhattan on Monday—even as street signs and trees crash to the ground in the East Village, and Hurricane Sandy’s high winds knocked over a crane on top of a 65-storey condo tower in Midtown. A brief chat with two NYPD officers in Times Square confirms what has been widely reported by local media: many residents in New York’s mandatory evacuation zone have ignored the calls for evacuation and instead are talking about how they’ll spend their hurrication. “We were knocking on hundreds of doors last night,” says one officer in a Zone A apartment complex. ”We got maybe 20 people to leave.”

And while yellow taxis still dot the slick avenues, transportation has all but ground to halt, as many of the bridges and tunnels connecting Manhattan to the rest of New York are being closed. Public transportation has been shut down since Sunday evening and over 9,000 flights from LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark airports have been cancelled. Most retail shops are closed, too, but a surprising number of businesses have remained open, including wine stores, bodegas, restaurants and notably, bars and pubs throwing “Hurricane parties.” One bar in Alphabet City, which is within Zone B—an area that is at flood risk if the hurricane intensifies—hosts a smattering of locals who, like many others, decided not to evacuate. Watching the overhead TV, as it shows the crane hanging precariously off the side of the condo building on 57th St., one man jokes, between sips of his Guinness, “Someone should invent a Twitter account from the crane’s perspective.”

Indeed, the mood is distinctly casual in Times Square, where tourists dressed in plastic ponchos, grasping soaking wet city maps, are defiantly sightseeing despite the relatively high winds and rain. “Happy Hurricane” has become the greeting of the day.  The Naked Cowboy wears a bright red life preserver, but is still otherwise naked save for his guitar, speedo and cowboy boots. Standing nearby, a Belgian couple in their sixties, dressed in matching red rain coats, see Hurricane Sandy as more of an inconvenience than a threat.

“Our flight is tomorrow, and I’m worried it may be cancelled” says 64-year-old Claine Danielle. “We want to go home. New York is dirty, it stinks, and the weather is terrible.”

Nearby, a longtime newsstand clerk is similarly unmoved. “The media scares people, and then it turns out to be nothing” says Yahya Tai, 37, a New Yorker who has worked at this newsstand for 16 years. “Last year with Irene, there were people out in Times Square dancing in their wet t-shirts.” (Officials worry that New Yorkers are conflating the two storms, Sandy and Irene—which turn out to have very little in common.) Tai’s kiosk—which is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and, he says, will likely stay open through the night—sits across from a clothing store, which like many nearby businesses, has placed sandbags along the doors. “It’s overkill,” he shrugs. “Even if they close the bridges, I’ll just walk home.” That is, he’ll walk over the Queens bridge to his home in Queens, which would take somewhere around four hours on a good day.

Tai’s almost stereotypically tough New Yorker attitude is echoed by several locals who stop by his newsstand for a snack. Matthew Lebourne, 22, who works in communications at the Scientology Center around the corner, complained of long lines at the grocery stores. “It’s just ridiculous,” he says. “If anything, we’ll need food for what, two days?”

Back in Times Square, a Spanish tourist approaches a Public Safety Officer. “Excuse me, do you know where the nearest Subway is?” he says, drenched by the steady rain.

“They’re all closed!” responds Const. Margarita Torres, 50, who has been on the job since Sunday evening and will stay on until the subways are open again, which could be as late as Wednesday morning.

“No, no, I mean the sandwich shop,” replies the tourist. As he walks off in search of lunch, Torres chuckles, referring to approaching Hurricane Sandy. “She’s going to sneak up and bite everybody.”

The latest photos of Hurricane Sandy

By Andrew Tolson - Monday, October 29, 2012 at 11:44 AM - 0 Comments

of Photos

Travellers stranded as flights cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy

By Emily Senger - Monday, October 29, 2012 at 9:49 AM - 0 Comments

Monday morning was a bad time to be a traveller, as hundreds of flights were grounded at two of Canada’s largest airports due to Hurricane Sandy.

At Toronto’s Pearson airport, many incoming flights from eastern Canada and the U.S. were cancelled altogether, including flights from St. John’s, New York and Washington. Fights outgoing were also delayed or cancelled.

“Due to storm activities related to Hurricane Sandy, a significant number of cancellations can be expected for flights within North America,” said a statement on the Pearson website. “Passengers are strongly advised to check their flight status before travelling to the airport.”

At Montreal’s Trudeau airport, delays and cancellations also kept passengers waiting, as outbound flights to New York, Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and Hartford, Conn. were cancelled. Inbound flights from those cities were also cancelled.

Flight cancellations due to Hurricane Sandy had wide-reaching effects, with the website Flight Aware reporting that nearly 7,000 flights had been cancelled in the U.S. by Monday morning.

A wind warning issued by Environment Canada Monday morning means that even more flights could be cancelled due to unsafe flying conditions.

Superstorm bears down on U.S. East Coast as residents flee threat of wall of water

By The Associated Press - Monday, October 29, 2012 at 8:40 AM - 0 Comments

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Forecasters warned that the New York City region could face the worst of Hurricane Sandy as it bore down on the U.S. East Coast’s largest cities Monday, forcing the shutdown of financial markets and mass transit, sending coastal residents fleeing and threatening high winds, rain and a wall of water up to 11 feet (3.35 metres) tall. It could endanger up to 50 million people for days.

Sandy strengthened before dawn and stayed on a predicted path toward New York, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia— putting it on a collision course with two other weather systems that would create a superstorm with the potential for havoc over 800 miles (1,280 kilometres) from the East Coast to the Great Lakes. Up to 3 feet (0.9 metres) of snow were even forecast for mountainous parts of West Virginia.

Airports closed, and authorities warned that the time for evacuation was running out or already past. Many workers planned to stay home as subways, buses and trains shut down across the region under the threat of flooding that could inundate tracks and tunnels. Utilities anticipated widespread power failures.

The centre of the storm was positioned to come ashore Monday night in New Jersey, meaning the worst of the surge could be in the northern part of that state and in New York City and on Long Island. Higher tides brought by a full moon compounded the threat to the metropolitan area of about 20 million people.

“This is the worst-case scenario,” said Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As rain from the leading edges began to fall over the Northeast on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people from Maryland to Connecticut were ordered to leave low-lying coastal areas, including 375,000 in lower Manhattan and other parts of New York City, 50,000 in Delaware and 30,000 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the city’s 12 casinos shut down for only the fourth time ever.

President Barack Obama declared emergencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, authorizing federal relief work to begin well ahead of time. He promised the government would “respond big and respond fast” after the storm hits.

Obama cancelled a campaign appearance in Florida to stay in Washington and monitor the storm, with Election Day just a week away.

Authorities warned that New York could get hit with a surge of seawater that could swamp parts of lower Manhattan, flood subway tunnels and cripple the network of electrical and communications lines that are vital to the nation’s financial centre.

Major U.S. financial markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and CME Group in Chicago, planned a rare shutdown Monday. The United Nations also shut down.

New York shut down all train, bus and subway service Sunday night. More than 5 million riders a day depend on the transit system.

“If you don’t evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned. “This is a serious and dangerous storm.”

Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 85 mph (136 kph) early Monday, was blamed for 65 deaths in the Caribbean before it began travelling northward, parallel to the Eastern Seaboard.

As of 8 a.m. Monday (1200 GMT), it was centred about 310 miles (498 kilometres) south-southeast of New York City, moving to the north at 20 mph (32.2 kph), with hurricane-force winds extending an unusual 175 miles (281 kilometres) from its centre.

Sandy was expected to hook inland Monday, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic, and then cut across into Pennsylvania and travel up through New York state.

Airlines cancelled nearly 7,500 flights and Amtrak began suspending train service across the Northeast.

About 90 miles (144 kilometres) off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 17 people abandoned a replica of the tall ship made famous in the film “Mutiny on the Bounty” after the vessel began taking on water, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert.

The Coast Guard was trying to determine whether to use cutters or helicopters to rescue the crew, who were in two lifeboats and were wearing survival suits and life jackets, he added.

Despite the dire warnings, some refused to budge.

Jonas Clark of Manchester Township, New Jersey — right in Sandy’s projected path — stood outside a convenience store, calmly sipping a coffee and wondering why people were working themselves “into a tizzy.”

“I’ve seen a lot of major storms in my time, and there’s nothing you can do but take reasonable precautions and ride out things the best you can,” said Clark, 73.

___

Breed reported from Raleigh, North Carolina; Contributing to this report were AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington; Katie Zezima in Atlantic City, New Jersey; David Porter in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey; Wayne Parry in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey; and David Dishneau in Delaware.

New Yorkers brace for Hurricane Sandy

By Aaron Hutchins - Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 9:39 PM - 0 Comments

New Yorkers brace for Hurricane Sandy

Storified by Maclean’s Magazine · Sun, Oct 28 2012 18:37:41

NYSE suspends physical floor trading due to Hurricane Sandy

By The Canadian Press - Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 7:49 PM - 0 Comments

TORONTO – Hurricane Sandy is set to overshadow the start of the trading week after the operator of the New York Stock Exchange said that it is suspending physical floor trading operations.

NYSE Euronext said late Sunday afternoon that while the exchange will remain open for trading Monday, it will invoke its contingency plan which involves trading all NYSE-listed securities on its Arca system, its fully electronic exchange.

The move by the NYSE came after it was announced that New York’s public transit system would shut at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday while 375,000 residents would be evacuated from low-lying areas of the city. Many major businesses in lower Manhattan are suspending or curtailing operations.

It’s not known when the NYSE trading floor will re-open.

“This is an extremely dangerous and unpredictable weather event,” said Duncan Niederauer, chief executive officer NYSE Euronext.

“The re-opening of physical trading is subject to city and state determinations and local conditions.”

The Toronto stock market was already in for a lacklustre showing this week as disappointments over the quarterly earnings season pile up and traders exercise caution ahead of an American election too close to call.

“The next week and a half or so will likely be somewhat muted,” said Jennifer Dowty, portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management.

“It’s certainly slowed down, you can see the activity rather benign. Volumes are low, (there’s) a lack of conviction right now until we get clarity in November with the election I think people are just going to sit on the sidelines.”

However, sentiment could find lift from top-drawer economic data, including the latest read on Canadian economic growth. Markets will also look to American consumer confidence, house prices, manufacturing activity and the week ends with job creation figures for Canada and the U.S.

The Canadian earnings season will remain in high gear, with reports coming in from the telecom, mining and energy sectors.

The Toronto and New York markets ended last week lower amid weak earnings reports from market giants Apple Inc., DuPont chemical and conglomerate 3M Inc. Data showing better than expected third quarter growth in the U.S. failed to benefit markets as analysts noted that the two per cent rise was driven largely by a jump in government spending and the housing sector.

The TSX lost 0.93 per cent while the Dow industrials backed off 1.77 per cent.

Markets are operating under a cloud of uncertainty as traders gauge who will emerge as the winner of the American election and what effect that will have on resolving the fiscal cliff that the U.S. faces at the end of December.

That is when a variety of tax hikes and budget reductions will come into effect unless Republicans and Democrats can come together with an alternative budget plan.

“You have people taking money off the table already,” said Andrew Pyle, investment adviser at ScotiaMcLeod in Peterborough, Ont.

And that nervousness is bound to increase as November wears on.

“The market will give some benefit of a doubt, in other words after the election if things don’t get fixed on day two. That might be a couple of weeks. But at some point, probably before we get into December the market is going to pass judgment on whether this is probable, in other words fixing it, or improbable and we’re going to have a very nasty situation in 2013.”

On the economic front, economists aren’t expecting a blowout number from the August read on Canadian gross domestic product. They see growth coming in at 0.2 per cent,

“If August posts growth of 0.2 per cent, Q3 could track roughly 1.8 per cent annualized, better than the Bank of Canada’s recent downgraded call of one per cent,” said CIBC World Markets economist Emanuella Enenajor.

Traders will particularly look to the October U.S. job creation figures coming out on Friday, the final big piece of economic data released before the election.

The consensus calls for the economy to have cranked out 120,000 jobs. That would be up slightly from the September report that had job creation of 114,000 and an unemployment rate of 7.8 per cent, 0.3 of a point down from August.

Pyle said it’s hard to say what impact the report would have on the election.

“Revisions to this will be key, mainly because we saw some revisions on the initial jobless claims numbers that came out in the last couple of weeks so there is the potential for some significant revisions in this report,” he said.

“Unless we think we’re going to get (a jobless rate of) 7.6 per cent, which would maybe make it a game changer for this election, I don’t think it’s going to have that much influence (on the election) or in the markets either.”

In Canada, it is expected that Statistics Canada will report that the economy created 7,500 jobs during October following a surge of more than 52,000 in the previous month with the jobless rate edging down 0.1 of a point to 7.3 per cent.

Also in the U.S., it is expected the Institute for Supply Management will report the manufacturing sector continued to show expansion during October, with the index coming in at 51.5, unchanged from September.

Traders will also take in the latest reading on consumer confidence from the Conference Board and the S&P/Case-Shiller housing price index.

Losses on the TSX were limited last week by strong earnings reports from gold producers Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) and Agnico-Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM). Traders will take in reports this week from Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) on Thursday.

Also reporting is Canadian Oil Sands (TSX:COS) Monday, Talisman Energy (TSX:TLM) on Tuesday, miners Sherritt International (TSX:S), First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM) Wednesday and telecom BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) and Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) on Thursday.

Frankenstorm could bring snow to parts of Ontario

By The Canadian Press - Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 5:15 PM - 0 Comments

HALIFAX – As the so-called Frankenstorm arrives on the doorstep of the U.S. eastern seaboard, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said Sunday that Sandy could bring winter weather to parts of Ontario.

Spokesman Bob Robichaud said southern and eastern Ontario and western Quebec could see between 50 and 100 millimetres of rain late Monday and early Tuesday.

The storm is expected to interact with a stalled front over Ontario and could cause heavier rainfall — more than 100 millimetres — in areas adjacent to Lake Ontario and northward to Algonquin Park, the centre said.

Forecasters warn that rain could change into snow over central Ontario, although it’s too early to predict snowfall amounts.

“Snow is another thing we’re going to have to consider with this thing, just because it’s drawing in some cold air from the north,” said Robichaud from Halifax during a media teleconference on Sunday.

While the storm moved slowly northward over the weekend, its impact was already felt Sunday in a city along Quebec’s Saguenay River, which leads into the St. Lawrence.

A cruise ship carrying 5,000 passengers en route to Florida docked in Saguenay, Que. to avoid its path. Vacationers aboard the Emerald Princess were welcomed by Mayor Jean Tremblay.

The cruise ship, which has 15 decks, 14 elevators, four outdoor pools and eight restaurants, is the largest ever to dock at the Saguenay port.

“We’re very happy for the visit, but it’s a lot of work for us,” Tremblay said in an interview. “We are coordinating volunteers, buses.”

The hurricane centre said parts of southern Ontario should brace for 100 km/h winds that could cause a bit of a mess, especially along western Lake Ontario.

Robichaud said the Maritimes could see between 50 to 75 millimetres of rain that will linger until Wednesday — Halloween.

It’s a storm with far-reaching tropical storm-force winds that extend 800 kilometres from its centre, said Robichaud.

“One of the impressive things about the storm is its sheer size,” said Robichaud. “We’re looking at a fairly large storm.”

It has been compared the so-called “Perfect Storm” of 1991, which remained off the coast of New England, pushing huge waves and causing $200 million in damage.

Sandy’s effects are expected to be extensive, and will affect areas well outside the storm’s centre, said Robichaud.

He said Sandy’s size also means it’s likely the messy weather will loiter until next weekend.

“It’s going to be a gradually improving thing… To really get rid of this thing, you’re looking at very late in the week,” said Robichaud.

Six metre waves could lash the Great Lakes, especially over southern Lake Huron, the centre said. Large waves are also expected pound the south shore of Nova Scotia.

Higher than normal water levels are expected on the St. Lawrence River during high tide Monday and Tuesday evenings and could cause coastal flooding in the Quebec City, Que., region.

Sandy was expected to gradually become a massive and intense post-tropical cyclone on Monday.

Forecasters south of the border said the storm was headed for a densely populated zone, likely just south of the New York and New Jersey border, and warn it could cause serious damage.

New York declared a state of emergency Sunday and the New York City transit system was expected to shut down at 7 p.m. on that day.

People along the U.S. eastern seaboard have been bracing for the worst, clearing out grocery store shelves of non-perishable food items and water.

Sandy has so far killed more than 40 people in the Caribbean, wrecked homes and knocked down trees and power lines.

The Canadian government issued a news release Saturday saying it has received no reports of Canadians being killed or injured as a result of Sandy.

Canadian Hurricane Centre predicting Ontario could receive worst of Sandy

By The Canadian Press - Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 2:14 PM - 0 Comments

HALIFAX – Ontario may see the worst Sandy when it hits early next week as the so-called Frankenstorm continues to grow, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said Saturday.

Spokesman Bob Robichaud said while rainfall amounts are still hard to predict, southern and eastern Ontario could see between 50 and 100 millimetres late Monday and early Tuesday.

“That’s certainly in the realm of possibility for that part of Ontario,” said Robichaud in an interview on Saturday. “It looks like southeastern and eastern Ontario might be getting the most rainfall out of this.”

Robichaud said those areas will also see high winds, although they will likely not hit hurricane strength. He said 80 km/h winds are a possibility.

Sandy is currently moving northward over the Bahamas and is expected to continue to track north while maintaining its hurricane strength.

The latest computer models predict its effects will be far-reaching on Canadian territory, with rainy and blustery conditions also expected for Quebec and the Maritime provinces.

Western Nova Scotia will likely see the strongest winds of eastern Canada, said Robichaud.

“I don’t think we’ll necessarily get up close to the point where we’ll have to issue warnings, but we could see some pretty blustery conditions,” he said.

Typically, large hurricanes like Sandy have been known to race up the coast and clip the edges of the Maritimes and Newfoundland. But a large, high-pressure system over the Maritimes is expected to block Sandy’s advance, pushing it into the mid-Atlantic states on late Monday or early Tuesday. The storm is also being fed by a trough of low pressure in the U.S. Midwest.

Robichaud said the complex interaction between these weather systems makes it difficult to predict the progress of the storm.

Sandy has so far killed more than 40 people in the Caribbean, wrecked homes and knocked down trees and power lines. Forecasters south of the border are warning the storm may cause serious damage on the U.S. eastern seaboard.

Robichaud said Sandy is headed for a densely populated zone, likely just south of the New York and New Jersey border.

But Robichaud said Canada shouldn’t be bracing for the same sort of danger.

“We’re not going to be feel the same impacts that they’re feeling down in the U.S., that’s for sure.”

The storm is comparable in size to the so-called “Perfect Storm” of 1991, which remained off the coast of New England, pushing huge waves and causing $200 million in damage.

The latest on Hurricane Sandy

By The Canadian Press - Friday, October 26, 2012 at 9:00 PM - 0 Comments

HALIFAX – As a so-called Frankenstorm churns its way toward the U.S. eastern seaboard, forecasters in Canada are warning that hurricane Sandy is so big, her reach will be felt from southern Ontario to the Maritimes.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre in Halifax staged a news conference Friday, saying meteorologists wanted to issue early warnings because the Category 1 hurricane is so huge.

Continue…

Thousands without power, big cleanup underway after Leslie hits

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 11:25 AM - 0 Comments

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Thousands of Newfoundlanders in St. John’s and on the Avalon Peninsula are still without power today as workers clean up debris from post-tropical storm Leslie.

Newfoundland Power says it’s working to restore power by late Wednesday or Thursday to about 9,000 customers, most of them in St. John’s.

Leslie hammered the city Tuesday with hurricane-force winds that tore apart roofs, toppled trees and snapped power lines as it soaked the island’s west coast with rain.

In St. John’s, many traffic lights are still out and city workers have started the big job of cleaning up scattered tree limbs and other debris.

No serious injuries or major evacuations were reported after the storm blew over the province and out to sea.

Leslie was a hurricane-strength post-tropical storm with maximum sustained winds clocked at 120 km/h.

Leslie belts Newfoundland, wreaking havoc on trees, trucks and roofs

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at 11:29 AM - 0 Comments

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Post-tropical storm Leslie belted Newfoundland on Tuesday, unleashing hurricane-force winds on a large swath of the province’s east coast and drenching rains in the west.

Officials with the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Halifax said the centre of the storm made landfall at around 8:30 a.m. local time in Fortune, N.L., following its anticipated track to the Burin Peninsula.

Meteorologist Bob Robichaud said the potent storm buffeted areas around St. John’s with winds that gusted more than 130 km/h, causing damage to roofs, trees, roads and widespread outages.

“We’ve seen some fairly heavy, intense rainfall as the storm was approaching and one of the things we’re looking closely at are the winds,” he said in an interview.

The centre initially said Leslie was a tropical storm when it made landfall, but later said it was a post-tropical storm. The designation means the strongest winds and heaviest rain have spread out past the eye of the storm.

The St. John’s airport recorded hurricane-force gusts of up to 131 km/h, and a buoy in Placentia Bay recorded waves exceeding 12 metres.

Power was knocked out throughout St. John’s and communities along the southeastern coast of the Avalon, and flights at the airport were cancelled.

Striking airport workers who briefly picketed outside braved powerful wind gusts that picked up a port-a-potty tied down by a rope.

“This is my first time taking strike action and I guess the weather just makes it a little more interesting,” said Steve Piercey, a building maintenance worker originally from Fortune, N.L.

“We’re used to weather like this. At least a couple of times a year we get big storms. This is par for the course, being a Newfoundlander. We’re tough.”

Piercey was working at the airport almost two years ago when hurricane Igor hit on Sept. 21, 2010, unleashing stronger winds gusting about 150 km/h.

Igor seemed much worse, he said.

Inside the airport, stranded passengers gazed up at electronic boards red with cancellations before the power cut out and they went black.

“On the Trans-Canada (Highway) it’s windy. It’s almost like the wind’s going to push you off the road,” said Christopher Cumby, who drove into St. John’s from the Trinity Bay region. “It’s not really bad rain-wise but the wind is really bad.”

Cumby was trying to make his way back to Fort McMurray, Alta., for work, but his chartered flight was delayed.

“Nah,” he said when asked if the weather scares him. “I might get to stay home an extra day.”

The RCMP tweeted a photo of a truck blown over onto its side on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of St. John’s.

The City of St. John’s closed all municipal buildings, except City Hall, due to extensive power outages. Schools and some health clinics in the area were also shut down.

Sirens wailed in downtown St. John’s as emergency crews responded to exploding power transformers, downed electricity lines and increasing wind damage.

Tree branches blocked several roads and there were multiple reports of roofs being partially blown off.

Some residents faced the blustery weather to take pictures of trees uprooted in Bannerman Park.

“It’s pretty intense,” said Holly Walsh, who was out storm chasing after classes for her therapeutic recreation course were cancelled.

“I’ve never seen this before.”

Walsh said the force of the wind blew her down at nearby Cape Spear, the most easterly point of North America, as it ripped the doors off three cars.

In the central Newfoundland town of Badger, officials declared a state of emergency and kept close watch on a 24-metre high water tower that was condemned three weeks ago.

“If we get the high winds, the engineers have advised us that it could topple,” said Mayor Michael Patey.

People from 23 homes near the tower were evacuated and an elementary school was closed.

Chris Fogarty, a manager with the Canadian Hurricane Centre, said the region may have been spared the brunt of the storm.

“The storm, had it come a few hours earlier, would have been worse for the southern part of the province due to the storm surge and high tides, so fortunately it arrived at low tide,” he said. “But there are very, very high waves coming up to Placentia Bay in particular.”

On Newfoundland’s west coast, there were concerns about flooding as the storm’s heaviest rainfall — about 100 millimetres or more were forecast for some areas — drenched the region.

Central parts of the island were also soaked, said Fogarty.

He said the centre’s radar suggested between 100 to 150 mm fell in some areas.

The centre cautioned that tree damage, power outages and property damage would likely result from the strong winds.

Bands of rain were extending out ahead of Leslie, dousing some areas on the Burin and Avalon Peninsulas with 25 mm of rain an hour.

The fast-moving storm was expected to head out into the North Atlantic, leaving cool winds and some sunshine in its wake.

Much-smaller hurricane Michael is well to the east of Leslie and is expected to dissipate east of the Grand Banks over the next day or two.

Fogarty said forecasters were also keeping an eye on a still-unnamed storm brewing in the tropics, but he said it would likely remain out at sea.

Newfoundland braces for Leslie, rain soaks N.S.

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at 5:33 AM - 0 Comments

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Residents in much of Atlantic Canada are bracing for a day of drenching rain and punishing winds as tropical storm Leslie prepares to come ashore.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre said Leslie was expected to barrel ashore in Newfoundland as a “very strong post-tropical storm” with heavy rain and potentially damaging winds.

In its bulletin issued at 3 a.m. ET, the centre said Leslie was about 400 kilometres southwest of Argentia, NL and moving north-northeast at about 65 kilometres an hour with near hurricane force winds of about 110 kilometres an hour.

The centre said “Leslie’s centre will likely be making landfall near the Burin Peninsula around mid-morning local time,” but cautioned that its effects would be far-reaching.

Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches were in effect for parts of southern and eastern Newfoundland. Much of the region is also under a rainfall warning, which also covers eastern Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and eastern Prince Edward Island.

The system already drenched parts of Nova Scotia, P.E.I and Newfoundland, with some areas getting well in excess of 100 millimetres of rain. The centre’s bulletin said some areas may receive 150 millimetres or more before the rain eased off during the day.

The centre said eight-metre waves were expected along Newfoundland’s southeast coast, particularly Placentia Bay. Marine Atlantic has cancelled ferry crossings between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland because of the weather warnings.

Swollen by heavy rain, two Nova Scotia rivers spilled their banks Monday as several dikes gave way, leading to flooding in the Truro and Bible Hill areas.

Dozens of homes and businesses were flooded, including 40 homes on one street.

On the Port au Port Peninsula, off Newfoundland’s west coast, about 40 millimetres of rain on Monday swelled streams that flow down hills along its southern coast. Water swamped parts of Route 460, the main highway, as provincial transportation officials advised that the peninsula was inaccessible with no alternate route.

Strong winds are expected to rake most of the Maritimes Tuesday, with the strongest gusts of up to 120 km/h likely to be confined to eastern Newfoundland. The centre cautioned that tree damage, power outages and minor property damage would likely result from the strong winds.

Much-smaller hurricane Michael is well to the east of Leslie and is expected dissipate east of the Grand Banks over the next day or two.

Many Newfoundlanders hunkering down ahead of the storm were hit hard by hurricane Igor two years ago.

One of them, Patricia Devine of Clarenville in southeastern Newfoundland, said Monday that she is ”very nervous” and ”saying a lot of prayers.”

Devine was among many residents who spent Monday stocking up on food and water and ensuring they had flashlights, batteries and emergency numbers at hand.

But the Halifax-based hurricane centre said Leslie isn’t expected to be quite as ferocious as Igor, which caused about $125 million in damages and left some parts of Newfoundland without power for several days.

Dikes burst as rain ahead of tropical storm Leslie

By The Canadian Press - Monday, September 10, 2012 at 2:11 PM - 0 Comments

TRURO, N.S. – Sheets of heavy rain have swamped two Nova Scotia rivers, leading to flooding and evacuations in Colchester County.

Water levels began rising early today in the North and Salmon rivers near Truro, which remains under a rainfall warning as tropical storm Leslie churns toward Atlantic Canada.

Bob Taylor, mayor of the Municipality of the County of Colchester, says dikes in both rivers gave way, flooding some roads in and out of Truro and the village of Bible Hill.

Taylor says some people have been asked to voluntarily leave their homes, but only a few have chosen to do so.

He says a high school near Salmon River was evacuated before lunchtime as a precaution.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre says up to 100 millimetres of rain is expected over eastern mainland Nova Scotia by Tuesday.

Tropical storm Leslie heading toward Atlantic Canada

By The Canadian Press - Monday, September 10, 2012 at 5:01 AM - 0 Comments

HALIFAX – The Canadian Hurricane Centre says tropical storm Leslie continues to churn toward Atlantic Canada, with a landfall in Newfoundland expected sometime tomorrow.

The centre has issued storm watches for much of the province’s coastal areas.

Chris Fogarty of the centre in Halifax said it was hard to predict exactly where the storm will hit because Leslie’s circulation is about 800-kilometres in diameter.

Fogarty predicts wind gusts could top 100 kilometres an hour in Newfoundland and Cape Breton.

Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. could also see 100 to 150 millimetres of drenching rain over about a period of about 36 hours.

The storm’s outer bands buffeted Bermuda Sunday causing some power outages and littering streets with tree branches and other debris, but there was no major damage or injuries.

Tropical Storm Leslie churns northward

By The Associated Press - Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 8:11 PM - 0 Comments

HAMILTON, Bermuda – Tropical Storm Leslie’s outer bands buffeted Bermuda with gusty winds and steady rain Sunday as its centre slipped past the wary British enclave on a path that could take it to Canada’s Newfoundland.

The government announced that the L.F. Wade International Airport would be closed until at least 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) due to tropical storm winds. Major airlines already had cancelled flights to the British Atlantic territory of about 65,000 inhabitants.

With satellite images showing the large tropical storm’s outer bands dwarfing the tiny territory, all bus and sea ferry services were halted and schools were ordered closed to students on Monday, though teachers and principals were still expected to report to their jobs. Many roads were littered with tree branches and other debris. The Bermuda Electric Light Company said there have been five scattered power outages impacting hundreds of customers since the storm began impacting the grouping of islands.

But with a direct strike from Leslie’s centre growing less likely, and the territory’s government decided not to open an emergency shelter. Earlier in the week, it had been forecast to be a Category 2 hurricane as it passed Bermuda.

Most residents of Bermuda, a financial haven and tourist destination about 600 miles (965 kilometres) off the U.S. East Coast, were taking the fast-moving outer bands of the passing storm in stride. The territory has tough building codes and its people are used to strong storms.

“It’s an excuse for a lazy day at home,” said Natasha Hector, a resident of Bermuda’s Southhampton parish who is originally from Oxfordshire, England.

Visiting London resident Philippa Raven said she was enjoying watching the storm from her friends’ hilltop home.

“It’s a good view and it’s quite nice just watching it outside when you are cozy inside,” said Raven, who arrived in Bermuda on Thursday.

James Dodgson, a forecaster for the Bermuda Weather Service, cautioned that even with the storm’s centre likely to stay well offshore, there would be a chance of some flooding. He said a probable small storm surge of one or two feet (30 to 60 centimetres) could combine with high tide to cause minor flooding in low-lying areas.

Bermuda was forecast to receive between 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimetres) of rain from Leslie.

Tropical storm winds extend up to 195 miles (95 kph) from its centre. By late morning, it was located about 140 miles (230 kilometres) east of Bermuda and was moving north at 10 mph (17 kph).

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm weakened slightly early Sunday, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph), below the hurricane threshold of 74 mph (120 kph).

Some strengthening was forecast over the next two days and U.S. forecasters said Leslie could regain hurricane strength on Monday over open ocean before a possible strike on Newfoundland and perhaps even Iceland toward the end of the week.

As Leslie moves northward, swells kicked up by the storm will affect Bermuda, the U.S. East Coast, the Canadian Maritimes, the northern Leeward Islands and the U.S. Caribbean territories for the next few days.

Far out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Michael weakened to a Category 1 storm, with maximum sustained winds of about 90 mph (150 kph), and was not considered any threat to land. For a few hours Thursday, it was the first Category 3 of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Michael was moving toward the west at 5 mph (7 kph). It was expected to take a turn to the northwest and then north-northwest Monday and Tuesday. It’s forecast to weaken to a tropical storm by Tuesday.

___

Associated Press reporter David McFadden in Kingston, Jamaica, contributed to this report.