NTV News' Chief Meteorologist Eddie Sheerr offered a grim account of the impact post-tropical storm Fiona had on the southern part of Newfoundland and Labrador.
"The power of the ocean was just relentless." Sheerr said Sunday. "The toll that this storm surge took on the southern part of this island is like nothing I've ever seen."
According to the meteorologist, when Fiona hit Port aux Basques, the area became "ground zero" for a storm surge what was made worse because of "tidal run up" a phenomenon that causes low tides and high tides to get successively higher.
"What transpired was significantly worse than I even thought it would be," Sheerr said on Sunday. "The reason for that was the water levels were just so high."
Fiona descended on Port aux Basques on Saturday as a post-tropical storm that,in addition to the catastrophic storm surge, was also churning out 130-kilometre-per-hour wind gusts.
Mayor Brian Button said the damage to the town of 4,000 has been devastating and the cleanup won't be quick.
"This is going to take days, could take weeks, could take months in some places."
Watch Eddie Sheerr's full analysis by clicking on the video at the top of this article.
With files from Michael Tutton in Sydney, N.S., Hina Alam in Covehead, P.E.I., Morgan Lowrie in Montreal, Amy Smart in Vancouver and Lee Berthiaume in Ottawa
