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When Hurricane Fiona hit William Coney’s quaint neighbourhood on September 24, 2022, the Canadian Red Cross volunteer did what he knew best: help others. He says volunteering gave him a sense of agency. “Certainly, it was a lot nicer to be autonomous and active. This was a way I could help my local community.”

Sarah Parisio's role within the Canadian Red Cross involves supporting people impacted by disasters through leading teams of fellow humanitarians who respond to emergencies in Canada and around the world. Discover how she brought with her skills developed through responding to emergencies in Canada to an international context and what new knowledge she brought back home in return.

Doug and his wife lay awake all night listening to the violent winds and debris crashing against their home when Hurricane Fiona hit. Like many of their neighbours in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, they’d been advised to prepare ahead of time; but when their front door - closed and locked - was ripped off their house with a loud bang at 3 a.m., the severity of the storm became clear.

Originating on the coast of West Africa on September 14, 2022, Fiona’s destructive character took the world by surprise. Reported wind gusts ranged from 100 to 140 km/h, rainfall exceeded 100 mm in some locations and hundreds of thousands of people experienced power outages. Sadly, Fiona holds the record for being the most intense storm to ever hit Canada. Denis Lessard, a Quebec Canadian Red Cross volunteer since 2006, was deployed in Newfoundland on October 2, 2022, following this severe weather event.

Growing up in a family of emergency responders and with a background in healthcare, it was Kate’s lifelong dream to work within the humanitarian sector, especially with the Red Cross. In her present role, she leads a team that’s specifically trained and dedicated to providing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support to those impacted by extreme weather events in B.C.
 

Shah, his wife, his two young children and his elderly parents lived without electricity as temperatures dropped on the island after Hurricane Fiona. Luckily, Shah soon found out about the support Red Cross was offering to people impacted by the hurricane and was introduced to “Mister René,” as he likes to call René Omalosanga, the accommodation lead for the response to Hurricane Fiona in Prince Edward Island.

The Canadian Red Cross continues to support those significantly impacted by post tropical storm Fiona that hit parts of the Atlantic provinces and Quebec. To date, the Red Cross has registered more than 79,000 households in all provinces impacted by the hurricane, and already distributed more than $11 million in financial assistance to over 32,000 eligible households.

The Canadian Red Cross is working closely with provincial, municipal, and Indigenous governments to provide help for people, communities, and businesses that have been impacted by Fiona. Find out how we are helping and where to get help if you need it.