Maritimers batten down the hatches as Hurricane Fiona barrels toward coast

Maritimers are hunkering down for what could be one of the biggest storms to ever hit the east coast.

Hurricane Fiona is on track to move into waters off southeastern Nova Scotia late Friday as a still-powerful storm.

Coastal areas of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador are expected to experience pounding surf, with waves off Nova Scotia expected to build to more than 10 metres.

Wendy Hanlan told 650 CKOM’s Mark Loshack she plans to ride out the storm in her Halifax-area home.

“I’m going down with the ship,” she chuckled.

“There are a lot of people that live right on the water. The waves are going to be intense. The wind is going to be intense. Those folks are better off in an evacuation centre where they are safe.”

Hanlan said her home is tucked away in a forested area. Her biggest worry is falling trees and flying debris, but flooding is another concern in the province after a few years of dry conditions.

“You forget about how much stuff you put out in your yard,” Hanlan said. “When a hurricane comes, everything is a projectile.”

While Hanlan has been through her fair share of Maritime storms before, she said she never gets used to the amount of work that goes into preparing for one.

“You’ve got to spend a lot of time putting things away,” she said. “Of course you’re stocking up. You’re hitting the grocery store, gassing up. Out here, we stock up on storm chips. That’s a thing in Nova Scotia.”

She said the threat from a coming storm is sometimes worse than the event itself, but it’s important to be prepared.

“Sometimes the (storms) don’t turn out to be much of anything,” she said. “Sometimes they really pack a wallop, so you just have to be ready for every one that comes along.”

The storm is expected to pass through the province’s eastern mainland, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island on Saturday before heading to Quebec’s Lower North Shore and southeastern Labrador early Sunday.