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Hurricane Juan was a Category 2 hurricane that made landfall at Prospect, Nova Scotia , 30 km southwest of Halifax at 12:10 a.m. ADT, Monday September 29, 2003.
Juan caused widespread damage in central Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Juan claimed more lives (at least 8) in Atlantic Canada than any other extreme weather event since the Escuminac Disaster killed 35 fishermen in the southwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence on June 20 1959.
Juan was the first hurricane of signficant strength since 1893 to pass over the city of Halifax, although Halifax did receive a near-direct hit from a weaker Hurricane Edna on September 11, 1954Events January events January 14 The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator forming the American Motors Corporation January 14 Marilyn Monroe weds Joe DiMaggio. January 15 Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya January 20 The Nati.
Hurricane Juan's maximum sustained wind speed was 159 km/hour with gusts up to 231 km/hour. Wave-rider weather buoys off the entrance of Halifax harbour snapped their moorings after reportedly recording waves in excess of 20 metres. Signficant erosion occurred on the populated shores of the harbour, particularly in the Bedford Basin where residential properties and railway tracks bore the brunt of wave action.
Upon making landfall in Nova Scotia, the storm moved extremely quickly to the north and by noon local time was well north of Prince Edward Island, having been downgraded to a tropical storm and then a tropical depression by the time it left the latter province. In its wake, Juan left more than 300,000 people without power in both provinces. It took up to a week and a half to restore power to the hardest hit rural areas of Nova Scotia. Voting in the PEI general electionThe province of Prince Edward Island, Canada conducted a general election in September 2003, to elect the 27 members of the Island legislature. The election was called on September 2 by Premier Pat Binns, who enjoyed some of the highest popularity of any on September 29, 2003 was also disrupted but more than 80% of voters made it to polling stations.
70% of the trees in Halifax's Point Pleasant Park were destroyed, fundamentally changing the character of the large urban park. The Halifax Public Gardens were also badly damaged.
The name Juan was retired in AprilApril is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 30 days. Derived from the Latin aprilis either from the Latin word aperire which means "to open", probably referring to growing plants in spring, or from the Etruscan name Apru for Aphr 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co and will be replaced by Joaquin in 2009Years in the future 2009 Articulo futuro 2009 is a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). Predicted Events January 20 George W. Bush's second term as President of the United States is due to end. A new President will be inaugurated.. It was the first time that Environment Canada had requested for a hurricane name to be retired on its own (partly because most hurricanes that hit Canada had already caused significant devastation elsewhere, usually the US East Coast).