After killing at least 43 people in the Bahamas and nearing the United States, Hurricane Dorian, weakened but still dangerous, fell in the night from Saturday to Sunday in eastern Canada with high winds, rains torrential and waves of nearly twenty meters. In the Bahamas, where the authorities expect a worsening of the balance sheet more than a week after the Dorian crossing, many planes, helicopters and boats, including cruise ships, were busy evacuating the affected residents to the city. capital Nassau or to the United States.
Thousands of kilometers to the north, downgraded to a "very intense post-tropical cyclone" by the Canadian Hurricane Center (CHC), the hurricane touched down on Saturday night near Halifax, Nova Scotia, where winds of up to 140 km / h were measured. More than 500,000 households were without electricity in Nova Scotia, according to authorities. Images broadcast by television stations showed Halifax streets, deserted, wind-blown and a collapsed crane on a building under construction. No injuries were reported.
"The safety of Canadians is our top priority and we are ready to help Atlantic Canada as a result of this storm," tweeted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Approximately 700 soldiers were sent to the eastern provinces to help restore electricity, clear roads and provide relief.
Dorian was to continue on Sunday over eastern Canada. Weather alerts have been issued for Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Eastern Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador. The depression should then lose strength and move away over the North Atlantic.
The Bahamas, still partially deprived of water and electricity
The evacuations accelerated Saturday in the Bahamas where the authorities do not cease to prevent that the temporary balance of 43 deaths is brought to increase "considerably". The buildings at the small Marsh Harbor airport suffered when Dorian fought on the island of Abaco with winds above 250 km / h. Several hangars were blown by the hurricane category 5, the highest, but the track is still passable and hundreds of people were waiting Saturday to be able to embark for Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.
"It's been almost a week now, people have no food, no water, bodies are still lying around, it's not healthy to stay here," says a young mother, Chamika Durosier, who came to take the air outside the terminal to escape the stench of toilets, whose hunting can not be fired, for lack of water. "Some sleep here for three or four days, the number of seats is limited in airplanes," she continues, still shaken by the shock of the passage of Dorian, the roof of the house that collapsed on her and her daughter and the cuts endured by crawling on the ground.