Houses washed away after storm Fiona as Canada sends in military for cleanup

After surging north from the Caribbean as a hurricane, Fiona came ashore before dawn on Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone, battering Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricane-strength winds, heavy rains and huge waves.

Fiona was blamed for at least five deaths in the Caribbean, but there was no confirmation of any fatalities or serious injuries in Canada. Police said a woman who might have been swept away was listed as missing in the town of Channel-Port Aux Basques on the southern coast of Newfoundland.

Raging surf pounded Port Aux Basques and entire structures were washed into the sea.

The Royal Canadian mounted police said the town of 4,000 people was in a state of emergency with multiple electrical fires and residential flooding.

As the extent of damage became clear, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, canceled his trip to Japan for the funeral for assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Provincial officials said other apartment buildings sustained significant damage.

More than 82,000 customers in the province of Prince Edward Island, about 95%, also lost power, while NB Power in New Brunswick reported 44,329 were without electricity.

Peter Gregg, president and chief executive of Nova Scotia Power, said unprecedented peak winds inflicted severe damage and the bad weather kept repair crews from going out at first. He said about 380,000 customers remained without power on Saturday afternoon as a weakening Fiona moved away over the Gulf of St Lawrence.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre tweeted that Fiona had the lowest pressure ever recorded for a storm making landfall in Canada. Forecasters had warned it could be the one of the most powerful storms to hit the country.

More resilient infrastructure was needed to withstand extreme weather events, the prime minister said, adding that what was once a one-in-100 year storm might now arrive every few years because of climate change.

A state of local emergency was declared in the Cape Breton regional municipality.

The Prince Edward Island premier, Dennis King, said few communities were spared damage, with the devastation looking to be beyond anything they had seen before in the province.

The federal minister of emergency preparedness, Bill Blair, said there was very extensive damage at the airport in Sydney, Nova Scotia.