By John Morris

LOCKEPORT, Nova Scotia (Reuters) -Lee made landfall as a post-tropical cyclone packing hurricane-force winds in a far western a part of Canada’s Nova Scotia province on Saturday, flooding roads, downing timber and slicing out energy for tens of 1000’s of individuals alongside the North Atlantic coast.

At the least one storm-related fatality was recorded on Saturday. A motorist within the U.S. state of Maine died after a tree fell on his automobile, native media reported.

The U.S. Nationwide Hurricane Middle (NHC) mentioned in its newest advisory that Lee was shifting north after it made landfall on Lengthy Island, a small island southwest of Halifax, on Saturday. The still-powerful climate system packed most sustained winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) with greater gusts, forecasters mentioned.

Lee, now situated about 40 miles (60 km) east-southeast of Eastport, Maine and about 130 miles (215) west of Halifax, is anticipated to weaken steadily in the course of the subsequent couple of days.

It introduced robust winds, coastal flooding and heavy rains to components of coastal Maine and Atlantic Canada.

Within the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, round 120,000 individuals have been with out energy on Saturday as winds knocked down timber and felled energy traces. In neighboring New Brunswick (NYSE:), practically 20,000 individuals skilled energy outages.

“Crews have been capable of restore energy to some clients … nonetheless, circumstances are getting worse. In lots of circumstances, particularly when winds are above 80 km/h (49.7 mph), it is not protected for our crews,” Matt Drover of the Nova Scotia electrical utility mentioned earlier on Saturday.

Winds have reached over 100 km/h (62 mph) in components of the west and over 90 km/h (56 mph) in downtown Halifax, the biggest metropolis in Nova Scotia, he mentioned in a press release. Halifax airport was closed to all flights.

In Maine, practically 70,000 clients have been out of energy as of late Saturday, in keeping with web site PowerOutages.us.

Fierce waves lashing Nova Scotia’s shoreline littered flooded coastal roads with particles in some localities.

“The depth of the storm is robust,” mentioned Paul Mason, the manager director of the Nova Scotia Emergency Administration Workplace. “Storm surge is anticipated to be probably the most intense within the afternoon into the early night.”

The storm might convey an extra 1-2 inches (20 to 50 millimeters) of rain in components of japanese Maine and New Brunswick in Canada, the NHC mentioned, highlighting the danger of flooding in these areas.

“Lee will proceed to impression the area tonight with rain or showers, robust winds, and excessive waves alongside the Atlantic coast,” the Canadian Hurricane Centre mentioned in a press release.

In anticipation of the storm’s impression, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration issued an emergency declaration for Maine and Massachusetts, offering federal help for the states.

Lee has been churning as a big hurricane over the Atlantic for greater than per week, briefly threatening Bermuda however principally innocent for anybody on land. It marks the second yr in a row that such a strong storm has reached Canada after Hurricane Fiona ripped into japanese Canada a yr in the past.