What was the last natural disaster like hurricanes or tsunami to hit Canada?

7 comments

1. 

   Count Chocula on May 7, 2010 at 4:37 am

   Last big one I remember was Hurrican Juan in 2003 in Nova Scotia. I remember thinking it was going to be nothing since we never have any serious storms. When I got up the next day there were trees laying on cars and blocking roads. It destroyed public parks and historic buildings, it was a mess.

   Here are a few pics:

   http://www.boatnerd.com/shiphotos/story-photos/2003/2003-sep-28-29-hurricane-juan.htm

   Oh yeah, 5 months later we had what was known as White Juan a massive snowstorm that dropped upto 100cm (39in) on Halifax. Some people had no power for up to two weeks.

   Here is a pic of what the sidewalks of halifax looked like after wards. –

   http://www.flickr.com/photos/radianman/3083547670/

2. 

   ButtFingaz on May 7, 2010 at 4:37 am

   Last natural disaster was when Dalton McGuinty got in as premier of Ontario
   stupid question

3. 

   Karen L on May 7, 2010 at 4:37 am

   A tsunami hit the west coast of Vancouver Island in 1964, and the west coast also gets earthquakes though it’s been a long long time since one did any real damage. Canada gets tornadoes, mostly on the prairies and in Ontario. Occasionally, the tail end of a hurricane hits Canada, usually in the Maritimes, but by then they’ve lost most of their punch. Some areas get snowstorms that cause road closures and power outages. Some place in Canada gets one of those every winter. The Red River around Winnipeg gets flooding pretty often, and the Fraser River flooded its lower reaches very badly in 1948. This last winter, some houses in Nova Scotia were knocked off their foundations by waves.

4. 

   Jen C on May 7, 2010 at 4:37 am

   There was an earthquake in Alaska and one in Washington state directly below western Canada, but none actually *in* Canada =l It’s like we’re in a bubble of safety sometimes (not that I’m complaining).

   The East did get clobbered with a bunch of snow in the winter, but I don’t think that would be considered too much of an anomaly for them XD

5. 

   Châteauguay on May 7, 2010 at 4:37 am

   It rarely is reported in the USA (like so many Canadian things!!) but hurricanes hit Nova Scotia
   and Labrador much more often than they hit New England or the mid-Atlantic states north of the Carolinas, but they are usually category 1s when they get to that latitude. The worst this decade was Hurricane Juan, a category 3 in 2003.

   The same area is usually hit by 2 or 3 (at least) furious Nor’easter ‘bomb’ blizzards each winter but they are used to them; unlike the Washington-Philadelphia area which literally was shut down for a week each time when hit by such storms twice this past winter.

   Canada also gets tornadoes from Saskatchewan to central Ontario mostly, in the southern parts
   of those provinces but not as frequently as in the tornado alley areas the USA, but the population is much sparser so bad ones that hit towns are very rare.

6. 

   Canadiangirl on May 7, 2010 at 4:37 am

   We have small hurricanes in Southern Ontario every year but they don’t really cause too much damage. I would say the biggest disasters would be forest fires in Ontario and BC every year but I can’t think of any tsunami’s or severe hurricanes. There was also that big ice storm in eastern Ontario and Quebec in the 90′s.

7. 

   Chuckles on May 7, 2010 at 4:37 am

   In 1998 I think it was, when the Red River flooded North Dakota Winnipeg was almost flooded. However, good government planning in the 1950s and intense action by the people working for the common good at the time kept the flood from entering the city of Winnipeg.

   As for storms, Canada gets many of them every winter. But because they come every winter, we have the systems in place to cope with them as they come.

   Edmonton got a tornado once n the 1990s but only a trailer part got wiped out.