Maritimers brace for Hurricane Earl

HALIFAX – Emergency officials in the Maritimes issued stark public warnings Thursday about the threat posed by Hurricane Earl, expected to strike the coasts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on Saturday.

"There’s a big storm coming our way," said Andy Morton, a spokesman for New Brunswick’s Emergency Measures Organization.

"Our guidance to everybody now is, get ready. We’re going to have power outages and telephone outages. Lines are going to be snapped. People have to be adjusting their activity level on Saturday to meet with what the weather will be dishing out."

Hurricane Earl was churning in the Atlantic just south of North Carolina Thursday afternoon, and was due to arrive as a dangerous Category 3 hurricane, with winds as high as 201 kilometres per hour, at Cape Hatteras on Thursday night.

On Friday, the storm is expected to move past Cape Cod and to make landfall in Canada at about 8 a.m. Saturday.

Forecasters at the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Dartmouth, N.S., say the centre of the storm will most likely barrel up the Bay of Fundy, bringing hurricane-force wind, rain and ocean storm surges to southern New Brunswick, southwestern Nova Scotia and western Prince Edward Island, before losing some of its power and moving across the Gulf of St. Lawrence as a tropical storm.

The good news, said Chris Fogarty, director of the Hurricane Centre, is that the Bay of Fundy’s famously high tides are currently lower than normal, limiting the damage that might be caused by surging sea levels.

That’s tempered by the fact that ocean temperatures around the Maritimes – which is sweltering through a record-setting September heat wave – are likely to slow the weakening such hurricanes usually face as they move into colder Canadian waters.

Fogarty said Earl will likely hit the Maritimes as a Category 1 hurricane, with wind speeds reaching 130 km/h.

Town and emergency officials in Yarmouth, N.S., which could bear the brunt of the storm, were huddled in meetings Thursday to plan for the storm. Mayor Phil Mooney said fishermen were moving boats off the waterfront to safer locations. He also said the Mariner’s Centre, a local hockey arena equipped with large kitchens and a generator, would be used to welcome people in need of shelter and a warm meal on Saturday.

Mooney is worried that a wedding on Saturday – in which the bride is a local Mountie – won’t be well attended, considering that 30 of the guests are members of the nearby RCMP detachments.

"I’m supposed to be the master of ceremonies at the wedding," he said. "But if the hurricane happens, many of those officers may be called out on duty. There might be a lot more at the buffet table for me."

In Nova Scotia, memories of hurricane Juan – which killed eight people and left a path of destruction from Halifax to P.E.I. in 2003 – are still raw. The lessons learned that year have prompted thousands of people to begin preparing already for Earl.

"I’m moving my boat into the back of the marina here, where there’s more shelter from the open water," said sailor Don Hatcher at Halifax’s Armdale Yacht Club Thursday. "I’ll put some extra lines on it, and make sure everything’s tight and secure.

"I’m very concerned about this hurricane. But what can you do? That’s Mother Nature, I guess."

Andrew Ward, an ocean rescue specialist with the Canadian Coast Guard, was stocking up on supplies at a Canadian Tire store in Halifax.

"I’ve now got batteries, flashlights, gas in my car and extra cash on hand. So I should be all right," he said. "Now I’m going home to tie things down on my balcony and put some things away. If this hurricane does come ashore, it’s going to cause serious problems for some people."

Businesses are also getting ready for the storm. Encana Corp. is evacuating about 80 personnel working on a rig drilling for natural gas off the coast of Nova Scotia, and airlines at Halifax airport are making plans to remove all aircraft from the tarmac by Saturday.

While many tourists have changed their Labour Day weekend travel plans, entire sporting events scheduled for Saturday – including a Nova Scotia Golf Association championship – have also been cancelled.

However, in Digby, N.S., where Earl may make landfall, the Wharf Rat Rally – a huge annual gathering of 30,000 motorcyclists from across eastern North America – will continue through the weekend as planned.

Hurricane forecasters say while Earl will move fairly quickly across the region, those bikers should prepare for a wet and wild Saturday, with three to four hours of powerful winds and intense rain.