Roy told CNN he evacuated from his home and staying with a cousin on higher ground. He has no idea if his home is still standing and emergency personnel stopped him from driving over to check. It was unsafe to do so, they warned.

Pictures by another area resident, Terry Osmond, showed a collapsed building in Channel-Port aux Basques surrounded by seawater at the shoreline, and splintered wood and other debris were scattered across town.

“Never in my lifetime” has there been “so much destruction … in our area,” Osmond, 62, wrote to CNN.

A woman in town was rescued from water Saturday afternoon after her home collapsed, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. She was taken to a hospital; the extent of her injuries wasn’t immediately known, police said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a Saturday afternoon news conference the government was assessing damage from the storm but officials had already begun helping communities who were affected, including approving Nova Scotia’s…