Devastating Hurricane Juan remembered on 10-year anniversary
Posted Sep 30, 2013 08:01:58 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A decade ago today, Nova Scotians were waking up to the wreckage left behind when Hurricane Juan barreled through the province.
The storm made landfall just after midnight.
Canadian Hurricane Center Manager Chris Foggerty explained conditions were ideal for a hurricane.
“That September was very warm, almost like an August, and the warm environment and ocean temperatures before the storm arrived basically led to the set up that brought in the hurricane,” he said.
He added the storm left countless trees pulled out by their roots, left thousands of Nova Scotians without power for upwards of ten days, and two deaths were reported, as a direct result of the storm.
Foggerty explained Juan’s defined center and compact nature was responsible for the damage it caused.
“There was basically a 100 to 150 kilometre swath it covered whereas other hurricanes have widths often twice that, so these very intense storms can be very damaging on a small scale,” he said.
Parts of Nova Scotia saw wind speeds up to 140km/h an hour at the height of the hurricane.
Former News 95.7 morning news anchor Doug Reynolds was on the air at CJCH when the storm hit Halifax.
“We were peeking out the windows and we could see trees down and branches and everything else and the whole city was kind of dark,” he remembered. “It was really, really, scary.”
He said the station was able to stay on-air and he was able to provide live coverage to those stuck in their homes.
“People who had battery operated radios or who did have power wherever they happened to live were calling in and describing what they experienced,” added Reynolds.
