Post tropical storm Noel brings high winds but little damage reported

By Greg Bennett

The Coast Guard

NovaNewsNow

It blew hard. It rained hard. There was even some lightning.

But the aftermath of the much-touted post-tropical storm Noel was “nothing of any great consequence,” said Shelburne County EMO coordinator Don Bower.

“Right now, everything seems okay,” he said.

In other parts of the province there were of trees down and major power outages but no early reports of significant damage.

The were some power outages reported on Cape Sable Island as a result of the storm, but much of eastern Shelburne County was largely unaffected.

Post hurricane Noel saved its worst winds for Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Early reports were that some near-hurricane force gusts were experienced in the area.

It seems that most people had prepared well for the storm though.

Bower said a quick check of local wharves saw no major damage reported.

“They say the water just outside a little is a smothering of white, but the wharves seem ok,” he said.

Larry Sears, the manager of the Shag Harbour Harbour Authority said the local wharf held up well and noted that local breakwaters had taken a pounding though.

“You can see water flying over them,” he said.

In Shelburne Harbour, many vessels, including a Canadian Coast Guard ship had taken refuge.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre was expecting high and pounding surf along the South Shore but did not expect storm surge to be a problem.

Bower remained worried about hunters in the woods, explaining that last time a storm hit the area during hunting season 30 people had to be rescued from the bush.

Noel was no Hurricane Juan. That hurricane hit in September 2003 and knocked power out for more than a week in parts of Nova Scotia and wreaked extensive damage throughout the Halifax region.

While a much larger storm, post-tropical Noel was not as intense as Juan and resembled a strong nor’easter in character.

And that’s something Shelburne County is used to.