One year ago today, just after midnight, I was huddled in my bedroom with my wife, two kids and dog listening to the brutal winds of hurricane Juan ravage the Nova Scotia coastline. Meteorologists predicted a Category 1 or 2 Hurricane, but officials later confirmed that it was much worse, reaching Category 3 by the time it hit the coast.
Shortly after Juan began battering Halifax we lost power, leaving our only communication with the outside world a battery powered radio. We listened intently as CBC radio continuously updated us on the track of the storm and the damage it was causing. Much to our dismay, the brunt of the hurricane was set to hit Halifax — our house is on a hill facing the harbor.
A reporter from the CBC accompanied the military on a plane that flew into the hurricane — he reported back news that none of us wanted to hear. While the hurricane was supposed to be a Category 2, they expected it to hit Category three. My wife and I wondered how much worse it could get as we heard pieces of houses and debris fly into our house all night long.
When morning came we saw how lucky we were. While we were without power for a while, we made out better than some who were without power for almost a week. One of our neighbors had a tree fall on their house, hitting the brick chimney, sending it falling through the roof into the living room.
All-in-all, we made out pretty well. WE spent the day picking pieces of other people’s houses off of our roof and property, but that was minimal considering what others had to do. A hurricane is not something I want to experience again and I feel for the residents of Florida today.
September 17th, 2005 at 11:37 am
[...] We were caught off-guard once before when Hurricane Juan pounded us a couple of years ago. Nobody wants a repeat of that mess. We are stocked up but it’s hard to tell what the storm will bring. [...]
September 17th, 2005 at 1:11 pm
I keep hearing that Juan was a catagory 2 storm, this site actually lists it as a cat 3… However, the maximum sustained winds at McNabs island, in Halifax harbour were recorded at 81 knts, making it a very strong catagory 1 storm.
No doubt it was one of the worst storms ever to hit Halifax, there is no need further hype it.
September 17th, 2005 at 5:27 pm
We were listening to a wind up radio during the hurricane because we lost power shirtly after it started and they kept upgrading the storm. The last I heard on CBC was category 3.
I have no need to hype it.