By Bisola Adeyemo
National Hurricane Centre in Miami on Saturday, reports that Hurricane larry racing away from Newfoundland expecting to become a post-tropical cyclone soon.
The storm crashed inland on the western shores of Placentia Bay on the Burin Peninsula with maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometres per hour, bringing heavy rain and pounding seas.
Newfoundland Power is reporting that thousands of customers have been blacked out in several areas including St. John’s, Mount Pearl, North East Avalon and the Southern Shore.
Outages are also reported in Whitbourne, Conception Bay North, Cape Shore and the Burin Peninsula.
The provincial government issued a statement saying residents should prepare a basic emergency kit to sustain them for at least 72 hours. The kit should have food, water, batteries, a portable radio and prescription medications. In the event of a blackout, the province asked people to use flashlights instead of candles and to refrain from using a gas range, stove or oven to heat a home.
As Larry churned towards eastern Newfoundland on Friday, residents were strapping their barbecues to their porches and emptying grocery store shelves in preparation for power outages, toppled trees and property damage.