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PEI

The legacy and lessons of Dorian, 1 year later

One year later, the impact of post-tropical storm Dorian is still visible in some parts of Prince Edward Island, even as the lessons learned from the natural disaster are being applied to future emergencies.

'We've never experienced a storm like Dorian in P.E.I.'

Some boats at Covehead Harbour partially sank during Dorian. (Paul Legere/CBC)

One year later, the impact of post-tropical storm Dorian is still visible in some parts of Prince Edward Island, even as the lessons learned from the natural disaster are being applied to future emergencies.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimated the insured damage to P.E.I. from the storm was $17.5 million, and more than $100 million across Atlantic Canada, not including damage to government-owned infrastructure.

A house smashed by Dorian on P.E.I.'s North Shore. (Peggy Clinton)

"I think the biggest lesson forus is that we've never experienced a storm like Dorian in P.E.I.," said Tanya Mullally, P.E.I.'s emergency management co-ordinator.

"We had Juan, but it only really impacted Charlottetown significantly, so to see that tip-to-tip experience and impact was significant for us."

Provincial EMO officials said nearly 75 per cent of the province was without power the morning after Dorian. (Carolyn Mellish/Facebook)

The Emergency Measures Organizationwas activated four days prior to Dorian.

"When we know that there is a hurricane that's going to impact Atlantic Canada, the Canadian Hurricane Centre provides briefings to the emergency measures organizations within Atlantic Canada," Mullally said.

"So for three or four days prior to, we were getting a briefing every day and that confidence level was coming up higher and higher with each of those briefings saying we are going to see a direct landfall to this storm."

P.E.I.'s emergency management co-ordinator Tanya Mullally illustrates the track of a hurricane on a giant screen in the provincial emergency operation centre. (Rick Gibbs/CBC)

Winds over 90 kilometres per hour

Harsh winds and heavy rain bashed P.E.I. overnight Saturday into Sunday morning, with 90 millimetres of rainfall in Summerside and 50 millimetres in Charlottetown as well ashigh winds.

"What was really impressive was, across the Island, winds were in excess of 90 km/h," said CBC meteorologist Tina Simpkin.

"The highest one that I saw was at North Cape at 122 km/h."

By daylight on Sunday morning, Islanders started to share dramatic photos of the damage.

Provincial EMO officials said nearly 75 per cent of the province waswithout power and some communication infrastructure such as landlines and cellphoneswere down.

A tree toppled by Dorian in a P.E.I. cemetery. (Wendy Lundrigan/Facebook)

"One of the interesting things about hurricanes, we typically wouldn't see that breadth of damage from tip to tip and we've seen significant damage from east to west," Mullally said.

"That's not typical, but it was the size of the storm was so enormous, how it was distributed across the province. But it did take days for us to really get a full picture of that."

Many corn fields across P.E.I. were flattened by the high winds and rain from Dorian. Island farmers are still waiting to hear about a claim for federal compensation. (Randy Drenth)

Dramatic rescue

One of the areas hardest hit was the Crystal Beach Campground, on P.E.I.'s North Shore.

The damage to trailers on-site was in the $500,000-$600,000 range, according to campground owner Matthew Wedge. (Travis Kingdon/CBC)

First responders pulled 31 people and five dogs from trailers rapidly filling with water early Sunday morning after a storm surge flooded the trailers.

One year after Dorian, the memories are still strong for campground ownerMatthew Wedge.

"It was horrible, something that I never dreamt it would ever look like," said Wedge, who has owned the campground for more than 20 years.

"Just more destruction than I ever, ever would have imagined. The water probably covered 70 percent of the campground."

Many trailers were damaged by high winds and the storm surge caused by Dorian at Crystal Beach Campground. (Mackayla Morrison/Facebook)

Debris from the storm was strewn over the area.

"Some actually floated across a little river that's close to the campground and probably a half a kilometre away into a farmer's field," Wedge said.

"Pieces of trailers, decks, seaweed everywhere. We trucked about 66tandem loads of seaweed off this property."

Wedge estimates the damage to the campground to be around $100,000. (Tom Steepe/CBC)

Lessons learned

Wedge said there are lessons to be learned from Dorian.

"We've learned that there needs to be a better evacuation policy in place, not just here, but forother businesses that are close to a shoreline," Wedge said.

"We're hoping to be able to work more closelywith the government in the future when something like this happens."

There was debris from the campground blown across the area, including pieces of trailers, decks and seaweed. (Travis Kingdon/CBC)

Wedge said Dorian also taught him the unpredictability of a severe weather event.

"With any storm, I do follow them and it even fooled me," Wedge said.

"It regained some strength in the last hour or two, when it got closer to the Island. So I think it was one of those storms that just surprised a lot of people."

Disaster relief

Wedge estimates the damage to the campground to be around $100,000, some of which was covered by insurance, and he has also applied for disaster relief funding from the Red Cross.

According to EMO, a total of 128 applications to the program were received, with $1.5 million paid out to date and an additional $1.1 million approved for applicants who still have to submit final claim documents.

Wedge said the damage to the trailers on the property was between $500,000and $600,000.

Many of the campers are back at Crystal Beach Campground this summer, despite the experience with Dorian, as seen in this drone photo from Sept. 2, 2020. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

To Wedge'ssurprise, many campers are back at Crystal Beach Campground, despite Dorian.

"When it first happened, I was concernedthat I would lose business and it would scare people away," Wedge said.

"But I think everyone kind of thought the same way I did, that it washopefullya once in a lifetime storm for us."

Wedge said he is surprised and grateful that so many campers returned, despite their experience with Dorian. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

'I was awestruck'

Another area hit hard by post-tropical storm Dorian was the Cavendish Campground in the P.E.I. National Park, which lost 80 per cent of its trees.

Parks Canada says there will be interpretive signs put up near some of the destroyed areas in the P.E.I. National Park to explain about post-tropical storm Dorian and the damage that it did in September 2019. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

"After the hurricane subsided and we got a chance to come in to the campground, I was awestruck at the extent of devastation," said Bill Courtney,asset manager for Parks Canada in P.E.I. National Park.

"The trees were piled on top of each other. You couldn't drive on the campground roads. It just wasn't passable."

There were no campers on-site at the time Dorian struck as Parks Canada had evacuated them the day before.

"It was beyond belief how much damage happened inside the campground," Courtney said.

"But thankfully, there were no staff, no visitors in the campground during the hurricane."

Drone footage shows fallen trees in P.E.I. National Park, one year after post-tropical storm Dorian hit the area.
Drone footage from September 4, 2020 shows the number of fallen trees still in the P.E.I. National Park, one year after Dorian. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

One year later, there are still downed trees everywhere.

The 200 campsites at the Cavendish Campground remained close in 2020, and Courtney said the work to restore the site will continue until December 2021.

Drone footage from September 4, 2020 shows the Cavendish Campground in the P.E.I. National Park, one year after Dorian. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

There will be trees planted at the campgroundthis fall, but Courtney said they will be better suited for the climate on P.E.I.'s North Shore.

"We learn from every natural disaster, of course, so things are going to be donedifferently here," Courtney said.

"We lost a lot of our trees so we're going to be planting, not spruce trees, but Acadian forest species this time. These are native to the Island and will be more wind tolerant as they grow."

Drone footage from September 4, 2020 shows the swath of damage through the P.E.I. National Park, one year after Dorian. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

Natural process

Courtney said the national park also had significant coastal erosion from post-tropical storm Dorian, losingbetween two and four metres of coastline in certain areas.

"We've been asked the question, are you going to repair that? In this case, no, erosion is part of natural process and the dunes do have a method of restoring themselves."

Courtney says some of these trees will be cleared away but the rest will remain as habitat and to decompose and provide nutrients. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

Courtney said some of the fallen trees will remain, to serve as habitat for animals and provide nutrients as they rot.

He saidthere will also be interpretive signs put up near some of the destroyed areas, to explain about post-tropical storm Dorian and the damage that it did in September 2019.

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