Latest news with #HurricaneFiona
Bloomberg
13-08-2025
- Climate
- Bloomberg
Nova Scotia Built a ‘Living Shoreline' to Protect Its Coast
When Hurricane Fiona reached Mahone Bay on the southern coast of Nova Scotia in 2022 — packing powerful waves and 100-mph winds — the community's historic, flood-prone waterfront churches were spared. Far from a miracle, residents credited a newly built 60-meter 'living shoreline' made up of tidal wetlands, vegetated banks and other natural barriers for absorbing and diffusing potentially destructive storm surges. Officials there are now planning to extend the living shoreline. Whereas coastal cities have traditionally turned to hardened 'gray' infrastructure like concrete seawalls to fend off such storms, planners on the Atlantic Canada coast see Mahone Bay as a proving ground for whether greener, more nature-based solutions can be more effective at protecting coastal heritage. Read more from contributor Leilani Marie Labong t oday on CityLab:
Bloomberg
11-08-2025
- Climate
- Bloomberg
To Head Off Severe Storm Surges, Nova Scotia Invests in ‘Living Shorelines'
On September 14, 2022, when Hurricane Fiona battered Nova Scotia with gusts exceeding 100 mph and offshore waves cresting 90 feet, residents of Mahone Bay, on the province's southern coast, watched anxiously to see whether their three historic waterfront churches — flood-prone landmarks whose steeples once guided 19th-century seafarers — would survive. A 'living shoreline' stretching 60 meters (197 feet) had just been established to protect Mahone Bay from just such a storm. Spearheaded by the local environmental nonprofit Coastal Action, the pilot project involved building a layered buffer that starts in the shallows with rock sills, submerged barriers that help break up wave energy. It then proceeded landward with a salt marsh of tidal plants, like smooth cordgrass and seaside lavender. The final component was a vegetated bank, rooted with bayberry and wild rose to stabilize the soil. Unlike hardened 'gray' infrastructure like concrete seawalls or rock armoring — which deflect waves onto nearby roads and shorelines, often worsening erosion — living shorelines absorb and diffuse storm surges naturally.
CBC
23-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Cape Breton man retires from nearly 40-year restoration career
In recent years, the businessman from Glace Bay helped residents recover in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona and the Thanksgiving flood of 2016. Kyle Moore has the story.
