Powerful storm Fiona slams into eastern Canada with hurricane-force winds

Powerful storm Fiona slammed into eastern Canada on Saturday with hurricane-force winds – nearly a week after devastating parts of the Caribbean – as hundreds of thousands are without power in one of the strongest storms ever to hit the country.

The National Hurricane Center said the center of the storm, now called Post-Tropical Cyclone Fiona after being downgraded from a hurricane, was crossing eastern Nova Scotia, bringing high winds – some the level of a Category 1 hurricane – and heavy rains.

The storm had weakened somewhat as it travelled north. As of 5 a.m., the storm was about 160 miles northeast of Halifax, carrying maximum winds of 90 miles per hour and barreling north at around 26 mph, the NHC said.

Hurricane-force winds extended up to 175 miles out from Fiona’s center while tropical-storm-force winds reached up to 405 miles out as of 8 a.m. ET, according to the NHC. 

The Canadian Hurricane Center called the storm ‘the lowest pressured land falling storm on record in…