NTV News Chief Meteorologist Eddie Sheerr appeared shocked while offering a grim account of the impact of post-tropical storm Fiona on southern Newfoundland and Labrador.
“The power of the ocean was simply relentless.” Sheerr said Sunday. “The toll from this storm surge on the southern part of this island is unlike anything I have ever seen.”
According to the meteorologist, when Fiona hit Port aux Basques, the area became “ground zero” for a storm surge, which was aggravated by the “tidal wave”, a phenomenon that causes low tides to rise successively. and high tides.
“What happened was much worse than I thought,” Sheerr said Sunday. “The reason was that the water levels were so high.”
Fiona descended on Port aux Basques on Saturday as a post-tropical storm which, in addition to the catastrophic storm surge, was also bringing wind gusts of 130 kilometers per hour.
Mayor Brian Button said the damage to the town of 4,000 has been devastating and the cleanup will not be quick.
“It’s going to take days, could take weeks, could take months in some places.”
Watch Eddie Sheerr’s full analysis by clicking on the video at the top of this article.
With files from Michael Tutton in Sydney, NS, Hina Alam in Covehead, PEI, Morgan Lowrie in Montreal, Amy Smart in Vancouver and Lee Berthiaume in Ottawa