Bye Fiona, We're No Longer On Speaking Terms.

This is my backyard. Trees down through neighbors fence.

Trees down blocking a path near my house.

Neighbours massive spruce tree down.

More trees down in the neighborhood.

Caption of a news station - downtown Charlottetown on Queen Street where I used to work, it flooded out the roadway.

More trees down near my house.

Lifted my shingles off my house.

This is the first time I have turned on my computer since September 24th when Hurricane Fiona decided to make a very unwelcomed and extremely dramatic visit to the Atlantic coast of Canada. This was Canada's most devastating storm on record. It spanned over parts of five provinces - Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and parts of Quebec. To say the remnants of Fiona are catastrophic would be putting it mildly. Land was lost, homes were lost and sadly, lives were lost as well.

Prince Edward Island has recorded no deaths caused by the storm itself (although we have had one casualty post Fiona due to hazardous conditions during the cleanup), however, we have lost an incredible amount of land due to erosion. So many of our sand dunes, which are vital to protecting our beaches and oceanfront, are destroyed.

My prayers are extended to anyone from surrounding provinces who have lost loved ones. There are no words. Newfoundland has had homes literally wash into the sea. The footage I see on the news is heartbreaking.

I am beyond thankful and say prayers of gratitude that my family is safe.

To be completely honest, I've never been so scared in all my life. There were times during the storm that it felt like my house was made of paper. I kept thinking, "There is no way this house is going to stay standing" and then I looked at the time and realized that the storm hadn't even hit yet! We were just feeling the outskirts of it.... and then it hit. All I could do was close my eyes and pray.

It was the most out of control feeling ever. Anyone who has ever lived through a hurricane would understand; but this was my first. I'm acutely aware that thanks to climate change, it most likely won't be my last. The water temperatures are 5 to 10 degrees warmer than usual. Like, let me be clear - I am in Canada and it's autumn. It's supposed to be cold. It's the end of September and I'm in shorts and my windows are open. That's not normal. I remember as a kid, planning Halloween costumes OVER my snow suit. But it's upwards to 20+ degrees Celsius still and its basically October.

These storms typically would fizzle out when they'd reach our cold Atlantic waters but now they are making themselves at home thinking it's a tropical paradise and to a hurricane, let's face it, it IS paradise because they feed off of warm waters!

So why am I just turning my computer on for the first time since September 24th? You guessed it! I just got my power back. Praise God!

There is still a TON of clean up to be done. Life goes on, as devastating as that idea can be when lives have been lost.

I've had enough of "major events" and "historic events" now. From pandemics to hurricanes ... let's just chill for awhile, k?

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