Hurricane Arthur: Nova Scotia prepares for storm
Lobster season ends a day early for some Cape Bretoners, farmers keep close eye on forecast
Nova Scotians are preparing for the approach of Arthur, a powerful storm that's expected to bring rain and high winds to the province on Saturday.
Arthur was heading northeast towards Nova Scotia on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane. It's expected to land in the southwestern part of the province as a post-tropical storm on Saturday morning.
The main concern for Nova Scotia is high winds, with gusts as high as 120 km/h in some places.
Lobster season ends early
With just over a week left in lobster season in Zone 27, Cape Breton fisherman Corey Lahey brought his 110 traps ashore on Thursday night to protect his gear from the impending storm.
"It's a bit of a nuisance but there's not much you can do about the weather," he said. "Just instead of having all the gear beat up and scattered around, I'll land it and probably put it back out Sunday evening if the weather straightens out."
On the other end of Cape Breton Island, the season ends on Saturday, so many fishermen brought their gear in a day early to cap off the season.
In Isle Madame, fisherman James Martin said it's worth the extra effort to save up to $30,000 in gear.
Farmers wary of storm
Farmers in the Annapolis Valley are concerned about rain and wind damage from the storm.
Strawberry farmers worry that too much water could make strawberries too soft to sell.
"Normally we don't see a tropical storm or a hurricane this early in the season," said Greg Webster of Webster Farms Ltd. "That's something we'd normally see in September, October, November even."
He said their worst case scenario is a loss of $80,000 in berries.
Memory of Juan lingers
New Brunswick is expected to receive the most rain as the storm tracks over the Maritimes, though Nova Scotians can still expect a wet day.
People on the Halifax waterfront were taking precautions Friday, with memories of Hurricane Juan in 2003 still fresh in the minds of some.
Skipper Steve Brown and his crew from the United Kingdom tied up their boat, the Novara, tightly. Brown was a little disturbed to hear he was using the same berth where a boat sank 11 years ago when Juan struck.
“The Sackville broke loose, and there was a boat tied up on the end here, and it crushed the boat and sank it. So we decided we'd take a few more precautions,” said Brown.
The Larinda sank to the bottom of Halifax harbour after HMCS Sackville crushed it during Juan. However, Brown says he's not worried since Arthur is not forecast to have the same strength as that hurricane.
Rit Dulac, his wife, and two friends are travelling through the Maritimes by motorcycle. They decided not to go to P.E.I. because they were afraid the Confederation Bridge would close, leaving them trapped on the Island.
The travellers also made a few modifications to keep the water out of their gear.
"Some big trash bags around the luggage, rain gear, and what did we put on the windshields today? Rainex. Yes, that's going to be a good one there," said Dulac.