SYDNEY, N.S. — One person’s trash could be another person’s tragedy.
With hurricane Teddy bearing down on the region and expected to deliver strong, sustained winds in its wake, preparations in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality are focused on one thing: heavy garbage.
During a press conference Monday, Mayor Cecil Clarke spoke about how the piles of wood and old appliances sitting curbside at the ends of driveways across the municipality could become dangerous projectiles once the storm begins.
“Securing that will be the focal point of today and tomorrow,” Clarke said during the midday news briefing.
CBRM solid-waste manager Francis Campbell said many people have begun piling up discarded objects in advance of the Sept. 28 collection period. However, those items now need to be either tethered down or taken back inside.
“One of the big issues that we have with that is there’s a good opportunity for that material to become airborne if we get the winds that they are predicting,” he advised. “What we’re asking residents to do at this point in time is to make sure all of the material that it is secured in place, and if they can’t do that, then remove it from the curb. This is no different than if you have something in your backyard — you’re either going to put it away or secure it down — and we would ask residents to make sure that they do the same thing with these materials that are out for collection — either make sure it is secured down so it can’t become airborne during this wind event, or take it in.”
Cindy Day, chief meteorologist with SaltWire Network, said while the colder temperatures of the north Atlantic means Teddy will likely be reduced to a “powerful" post-tropical storm before reaching landfall in Halifax pre-sunrise Wednesday morning, people shouldn’t underestimate its potentially destructive powers. She said Teddy will have sustained winds of more than 65 kilometres per hour that could gust 80-90 km/h as they shift from the southeast to northwest over 24 hours.
“That’s a different kettle of fish altogether. A little gust up to 90 (km/h) is one thing but sustained at 65 (km/h) and greater is pretty impressive,” she explained.
“Gusts 80-90 (km/h) and beyond will toss things around and oftentimes people are injured and there’s more damage because things fly around. If people can, move things back inside, bungee cord them down, or tuck them away on a sheltered side of the property if that’s at all possible.”
On the whole, Teddy should be a mainly wind-driven weather event for Cape Bretoners, said Day. Depending on where you live, expect 40-50 millimetres of rain with the possibility of thunderstorms, she said, adding that people should be prepared for strong winds once the storm has technically moved on to Newfoundland and Labrador.
“I know a lot of people in previous storms will say ‘Oh, my gosh, it was windier after the storm — nobody mentioned that.’ So it’s an important thing to keep in mind that it’s going to be very windy as the storm pulls away.”
Meanwhile, officials in Victoria County were also bracing for the arrival of Teddy.
Lyle Donovan, emergency management officer and fire services co-ordinator, reminded people to be prepared for 72 hours during and after the storm. That means having water, possible backup power and heat, as well as cash in case automated teller machines or debit transactions aren’t possible.
Like the CBRM, the Municipality of the County of Victoria is also planning to open comfort centres if they are needed.
