Houses are scattered along the shoreline in clusters, just a hair’s breadth from where the waves lap the shore. By Thursday afternoon, they are shrouded in fog almost as thick as the tension in the air. Hurricane Fiona, the massive hurricane barreling towards Port aux Basques, is the talk of the town. Two men in a truck stop to laugh at the weather warnings. They are used to tuning so quickly, they say cheerfully. Another man shrugs nervously outside his beach house. It could be bad, he says with a pause, as if recognizing the impending danger could strengthen the storm. He brings his boat, though, just in case. Another woman, whose bungalow is just yards from a boulder breakwater, says Fiona is worried. Past hurricanes, she says, have brought waves almost to her front door. A beach in Port aux Basques, at sea level, is particularly vulnerable to strong waves and a possible impending storm surge from Hurricane Fiona. (Malone Mullin/CBC) The low-lying town of just over 4,000 residents, on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, is bracing for a storm that forecasters say could be one of the strongest ever to hit Canada. As of Thursday night, forecasts for southwestern Newfoundland called for double-story waves, more than 100 millimeters of rain, winds in excess of 100 km/h and potentially damaging storm surges that could hit anything near the coast. Port aux Basques has been battered by wind and rain in recent memory. Last November, widespread flooding hit parts of the Trans Canada Highway that leads in and out of the city, stranding residents for days. The city council has applied for provincial disaster relief funding, says Mayor Brian Button, who spoke to CBC News outside city hall. They submitted the applications in March, he says, hoping for repairs from record rainfall and improvements to protect the city from future storms. Button says he hasn’t heard a whisper from the province since. “Our MHA is trying to deal with it, but they still haven’t been approved,” he said. “We have a few spots in town that we’d like [have] we had done more, but unfortunately we are not at that stage. Hopefully it won’t suffer any more damage or cause any more problems.” He points out some exposed areas, those that need a buffer from pesky storm surges like those in their path. “We wish we had done all of this by now,” he said. “Now we have a storm creeping up on us.” Mayor Brian Button says he was hoping for provincial disaster relief funding to bolster the city’s defenses before the next big one arrives. (Malone Mullin/CBC) Residents weren’t panic buying Thursday, but some, like Geraldine Francis, were still packing up local stores, stocking up on food and batteries to protect against long-term power outages. “I make sure I have my medicine, whatever I need. And plenty of water,” Francis said. “It’s probably no worse than what I’ve seen before,” he said of the forecasted winds. But she’s still biting her nails about the potential storm surge. Her house, like so many others, is by the sea, she said. Aaron Hayes also believes that the swollen ocean poses the greatest risk and could lead to people fleeing. Button says the city has applied for funding to build more breakwaters like this one, which were installed this week to protect against Fiona. (Malone Mullin/CBC) “If it comes like this, we’re going to have to watch it. People who are near the water are going to have to make a smart decision at some point … to get out of it before it gets too bad, and not leave themselves with running water in their homes,” he said. “They’ve had calls before. It might be time to take no more close calls and go to your mom or your brother…leave early, don’t leave it too late.” The city’s mayor says the undercurrent of fear has taken hold, quietly but surely, in an area that has seen its share of threatening weather. “Living on the coastline, you’re always nervous about how this might go,” says Button. “We are nervous about what we are hearing about this storm.” Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
