Storm to sweep through South Shore

The Canadian Hurricane Centre is expecting high and pounding surf along the South shore.

“Right now the tidal cycle is in the low end so we aren’t expecting the storm surge to be a problem but the high waves will be with rough surf…it’s not going to be a safe place for people to be,” explained the communications spokes person at the Canadian Hurricane Centre, Tamara Gates Hollingsworth.

The county will start to feel the effects of the storm late Saturday afternoon and will start building force with the full effects hitting on Saturday evening.

The high winds are expected to tear down tree limbs possibly cutting out power supply in some areas.

“Be prepared for 72 hours to hang out on your own,’ cautioned Hollingsworth. “If people are thinking of traveling on the weekend maybe they should rethink their plans.”

Town workers have scurried into motion clearing out storm drains and sewers so they remain unblocked of leaves.

Don Bower, Emergency Measures Coordinator advises citizens to take the normal precautions to secure any loose items around their homes so that blowing objects do not cause damage, to clean rain gutters before the storm hits and clear any basins or drains so they do not flood.

Nova Scotia Power has activated their emergency-operating centre and Senior Management is currently in conference preparing for the storm.

“The anomaly situation we have right now,” said Bower, “is that it is going to pass down the length of Nova Scotia. Most storms hit us square on and not much of the province is impacted but this one is going to go right down the centre of the province so it means the power corporation resources are going to be spread over a large area. That will manifest itself as reduced response time, they are not going to have enough men and women to go around.”

Bower is worried about this particular time that the storm is hitting.

“It is the hunting season and we have a lot of people in the bush and we’re strongly suggesting people in the bush back at hunting camps come out now or if they plan to go hunting this weekend they postpone their trip.

Bower explained last time a storm hit the area during hunting season thirty people had to be rescued from the bush.

Hurricane Juan, that hit Sept, 2003 knocked power out for more than a week in parts of Nova Scotia and wreaked extensive damage. Hollingsworth said the two could not be compared.

“It’s going to be a powerful storm but its going to be a different species,” she said, “Juan came across as a category two hurricane. It was much more intense and a smaller beast whereas this one is a much larger one.”

Residents should prepare by drawing enough water to last 72 hours, have flashlights and batteries, transistor radio, full groceries and their vehicles full of fuel. For more info on how to get prepared, go to www.getprepared.gc.ca