HALIFAX—Roofs blew off buildings, a construction crane toppled over and power was cut off to hundreds of thousands of people — all before Dorian had even landed in Nova Scotia.The powerful post-tropical cyclone was on the threshold between a Category 1 and Category 2 hurricane in the hours leading up to its landfall over the Maritimes, finally changing in structure — though not in intensity — by the time it hit the Chebucto Peninsula around 7 p.m. Saturday.“We’re still talking about a very dangerous storm that’s transiting through the Maritimes this evening,” Bob Robichaud, a warning preparedness meteorologist with the Canadian Hurricane Centre said at a news conference shortly after Dorian’s arrival.Following an afternoon of heavy rain and strong winds, there was a temporary calm over Halifax in the early evening, which Robichaud said would not last.“The storm is definitely not over. We expect the storm to actually track through the province of Nova Scotia through the overnight hours, so we still have a number of hours to go yet with some very, very severe conditions.”Wind gusts of 150 km/h, rain amounting to between 50 millimetres and 200 mm, and 10-metre-high waves were either already reported in parts of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, or were still in the forecast.As of Saturday evening, Halifax Regional Police (HRP) said no significant injuries or fatalities had been reported as a result of Dorian, although damage to buildings and power lines was mounting.HRP spokesperson Insp. Jim Butler told reporters that police had evacuated 150 people from downtown Halifax, including residents of a four-storey apartment building in the south end that lost its roof.Police had also closed a scene downtown where a crane had swayed briefly in the wind before collapsing into a semi-constructed highrise building.At a Saturday evening news conference, officials with the city, province and ...
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