A news release from the City of Charlottetown carried the headline “Charlottetown stands up to Earl” and that appears to be what happened across Prince Edward Island.
Tropical storm Earl hit hard in eastern P.E.I., causing boats to be tossed around in harbours like a toy boat in the bathtub.
Winds at Wood Islands were so strong it was next to impossible to stand in one place.
Rains were heavy enough to cause localized flooding on some Charlottetown streets.
Still, it appears there was little in the way of serious damage.
All agencies reporting to the Joint Emergency Operations Centre have reported no significant damage.
Maritime Electric reported pockets out outages in Charlottetown at the height of the storm but most people were expected to have their power restored soon.
As of 7 p.m., there were 380 scattered outages across the province from Tignish to Souris.
“We were lucky this time, but even if this storm had impacted our city more severely, we were ready,” said Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee.
“This whole exercise was very valuable. We proved that our organization is prepared and calm in the face of a storm.”
The City of Charlottetown never opened its Emergency Operations Centre but the province’s Joint Emergency Operations Centre was in operation throughout the day on Saturday.
The storm made landfall as a Category 1 Hurricane in southwestern Lunenburg.
By the time it reached P.E.I. it was a tropical storm, tracking over extreme eastern portions of the Island.
The highest wind gusts in Charlottetown were reported to be 78 km-h, but wind gusts were expected to be higher in eastern P.E.I.
About 42 mm of rain fell in Charlottetown but as the backside of Earl crossed the Island more wind and more rain were expected Saturday evening.
However, meteorologists say the worst from Earl is now over.
The Canadian Hurricane Centre has maintained tropical storm and wind warnings for Kings County only. All warnings have now been dropped for Queens and Prince counties.
