Hurricane Fiona lashes Bermuda en route to Canada - Axios

Hurricane Fiona's powerful winds and heavy rains were pummeling Bermuda morning as the Category 4 storm brushed close to the Atlantic island en route to northeastern Canada on Friday morning.

Threat level: Some 8,000 customers were without power in Bermuda as Fiona swept near the British territory, the island's Royal Gazette reports. The Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC) tweeted at 3am Friday that warnings were "in effect for what looks to be a historic storm for eastern Canada."

"This storm is going to hit us, folks," said Mike Savage, mayor of Halifax in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia Thursday, urging residents to prepare for Fiona's possible landfall, per CTV News. "It's going to hit us in the face."

State of play: Hurricane watches and warnings were in effect over much of coastal Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, with the CHC warning of a "severe event for Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec."

Meanwhile, hurricane conditions were expected to continue in Bermuda for several hours, according to a 2am advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

What we're watching: The CHC expects Fiona to threaten Nova Scotia waters on Friday night night, passing through Cape Breton Saturday morning, and then reaching the Quebec Lower North Shore and Southeastern Labrador early Sunday, with storm surges expected in several places.

The big picture: Fiona has been linked to at least five deaths, including two in Puerto Rico after the storm caused widespread destruction as it flooded the U.S. territory, knocking out power to the entire island on Sunday. Just under 1 million customers were still without power on Friday morning, per PowerOutage.US.

President Biden has declared a major disaster in Puerto Rico and announced Thursday that the federal government will cover 100% of costs for the next month to help with recovery efforts.
The storm was also blamed for two deaths in the Dominican Republic and one in the French island of Guadeloupe — both of which also experienced widespread power outages as Fiona swept through.

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