Emergency officials are on scene in downtown Halifax after a crane outside a new development at the corner of South Park Street and Spring Garden Road has collapsed onto the building.
The crane is the latest piece of infrastructure to be destroyed as hurricane Dorian charges toward Nova Scotia.
Jake Poulton, who lives nearby, heard crunching noises, but thought it was another tree snapping.
“I looked out my window and the crane toppled over onto the building and the end hit the street,” Poulton said.
Halifax Regional Police and Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency were on scene within a couple of minutes, he said.
From friend pic.twitter.com/hIdWvCYwZp
— stevenn虎虎虎 (@Steven20140909) September 7, 2019
Thousands across Nova Scotia are without power as hurricane Dorian charges toward the province.
More than 325,000 Nova Scotia Power customers were without service as of 4:30 p.m., an hour after Environment Canada upgraded hurricane Dorian to a high Category 1 with wind gusts up to 150 km/h.
Halifax Harbour Bridges closed the Macdonald and MacKay bridges around 4 p.m. due to high winds, heavy rain and poor visibility, and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal closed the Canso Causeway to high-sided vehicles at 4:30 p.m. until further notice.
The Nova Scotia emergency management office is asking all residents of coastal areas to consider voluntary evacuations as hurricane Dorian charges toward the province.
The wind and rain associated with Dorian started making its way across the province, with landfall expected later today somewhere near Halifax.
Residents at a Tobin Street apartment were evacuated after the building lost its roof and taken to the nearest emergency shelter.
“This shows how serious Dorian is, and we are still three hours from landfall,” Coun. Waye Mason tweeted about the incident in his district.
So this happened to my neighbour building just now... #Dorian #Halifax Update: currently in the eye of the storm. Worst will hit in an hour. Stay tuned....
Posted by Lindsay Ann on Saturday, September 7, 2019
On Highway 215 near Brooklyn, Hants County, a tree fell through power lines and onto a house just before noon.
Strong winds downed trees across Halifax, Dartmouth and other parts of the province.
Lisa Strickland-Clark lives on the water near East Port Medway and said Dorian’s powerful winds uprooted a maple tree from her yard.
“The beautiful big maple tree is at a 45-degree angle to the ground and it’s not going to right itself,” Strickland-Clark said. “It’s over for that tree.”
Other than damages to a few other trees, Strickland-Clark said there hasn’t been much damage to their property.
“We’re in a very protected bay so the water isn’t too choppy, but it’s more choppy than we’ve ever seen,” she said, noting she boarded up her windows on Friday as a precaution.
Meteorologist Cindy Day said tropical storm-force winds were starting to push into Western Head at 11 a.m., with gusts of 90 km/h. Gust were up to 70 km/h in Yarmouth, with sustained winds of 60 km/h.
She said the storm will start to lose power as it tracks toward northern Nova Scotia, but the wind “is going to be a huge factor as it approaches. As it approaches and comes near the southwest shore, that pounding surf and the strong wind is going to become a big factor. We’ll see sustained winds of 120 km/h, with gusts to 150km/h or 160 km/h.”
She said the it will still be windy behind the storm, with winds gusting to 70-90 km/h in western Nova Scotia.
The storm is moving at more than 40 km/h. Day said once the heavy wind and rain starts in any particular area, “this is about a six-hour storm. It doesn’t linger... when the rain really kicks in and the wind starts to pick up, six hours later you’re pretty much out of it.”
She said westerly winds will follow and then start to back off.
“It’s powerful, but short-lived. It does barrel through pretty quickly.”
Erica Fleck, the assistant chief of community risk reduction and logistics for Halifax Fire and part of the EMO team for the municipality, said the department and others in HRM have been working for days to get ready for the storm.
I’m actually feeling very comfortable with the spot that we’re at right now,” she said at 1 p.m.
“In all our business units we’ve taken stock of all generators, chainsaws, emergency supplies, our fuel tanks have been topped up.”
She said the fire department has put additional career firefighters in some stations where they normally wouldn’t to man those stations 24-7 during the storm.
“Every business unit has come together and we have collectively worked on a plan for the past four days.”
Federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Ralph Goodale said Nova Scotia called on the Government of Canada for assistance with hurricane Dorian.
"The Canadian Armed Forces are mobilizing to deploy to assist with the recovery," Goodale said on Twitter.
Nova Scotia has requested help with Hurricane Dorian—the Government of Canada’s response is of course YES! The Canadian Armed Forces are mobilizing to deploy to assist with the recovery.
— Ralph Goodale (@RalphGoodale) September 7, 2019
Halifax Regional Municipality repeated its request to residents along the shoreline of the county to consider moving inland voluntarily Saturday morning.
The latest forecasts predicted waves could reach 15 metres (49 feet), which could create dangerous conditions for residents living near the water. The municipality said the Sambro area, Peggys Cove, and along the Eastern Shore are particularly at risk.
The Red Cross opened three evacuation shelters at noon today, at the Dartmouth East Community Centre, Canada Games Centre, and St. Margarets Centre.
Halifax Transit ceased all operations at noon, with a tentative resumption date of no earlier than noon Sunday.
There was some slightly better news in the forecast for people in Yarmouth County, through the Annapolis Valley and into Cumberland and northern Colchester counties.
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The hurricane watch issued for those areas was downgraded to a tropical storm warning, meaning lower winds and gusts.
The forecast now calls for winds of 60 km/h in those areas and gusts to 90 km/h, although rainfall amounts of 100-150 mm are still forecast.
The rest of the province remains under a hurricane warning, with winds of 90 km/h and gusts of 140 km/h possible.
While traffic and store lineups were extensive in many areas of the province Friday, things were relatively quiet in New Minas, the main shopping area in Kings County, early Saturday morning after stores started opening.
An employee at one gas station said their tanks were filled twice Friday as people topped up their cars and gas jugs for generators.
Grocery stores in Digby and New Minas closed by 11 a.m., as the rain fell and winds started to pick up.
