Hurricane Hits Nova Scotia
Sacred Heart School of Halifax
Halifax, Nova Scotia

By Fiona (grade 8)

Hurricane Hortense was the first hurricane to rough up Nova Scotians for more than 20 years. It struck early Saturday morning and throughout the day it's winds reached speeds up to 130km an hour which delivered nearly a months worth of rainfall (100 millimeters) to some areas of the province.

The eye of the storm hit between 9 and 10 PM. Swollen streams overflowed onto roads and into basements. A woman was stranded in her car and wasn't rescued for nearly four hours. There were a lot of accidents during the storm, mostly caused by cars hydroplaning over the puddles.

Two thousand people in the Stewiake and Shubenacadie area were without power for nearly 12 hours and parts of the north end of Halifax didn't have power for up to 10 hours. Hockey fans were disappointed when the power went out because they were waiting for the World Cup game between Canada and the USA.

The hurricane produced ocean waves as high as 8 meters. On Lawrencetown Beach, giant waves left a great deal of houses damaged and flooded. One home was smashed by a wall of ocean water. The waves blasted through their basement around 10' o'clock Saturday night. All the windows were smashed and their cherished belongings were gone.

A few days earlier, Hurricane Hortense has passed through the Caribbean where it was responsible for the deaths of 24 people and tens of millions of dollars in damage. It did weaken when it passed over Nova Scotia and was downgraded to a Tropical Storm.