Post-tropical cyclone Fiona hits eastern Canada with hurricane-force winds

A powerful storm has hit eastern Canada with hurricane-force winds nearly a week after devastating parts of the Caribbean.

The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said the centre of Fiona, which transformed from a hurricane into a post-tropical cyclone late on Friday was crossing eastern Nova Scotia, bringing high winds and heavy rains.

Officials said houses were washed into the sea, roofs were torn off and power was knocked out to hundreds of thousands of customers in places such as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The storm had weakened as it travelled north, though it still packed maximum sustained winds of 90mph on Saturday.

Experts predicted high winds, storm surges and heavy rainfall. Although a gradual weakening was forecast during the next couple of days, Fiona was expected to maintain hurricane-force winds until Saturday afternoon, the NHC said.

Related: Puerto Rico power outage continues as Hurricane Fiona heads north

The Canadian Hurricane Centre said: “Most regions will experience hurricane-force winds. These severe winds will begin impacting the region late Friday and will continue on Saturday. Similar cyclones of this nature have produced structural damage to buildings.”

Heavy rains and flooding were expected, especially to the north and west of the storm, which left more than a million people without power in Puerto Rico.

“It certainly has the potential to be one of the most severe systems to have hit eastern Canada,” said Ian Hubbard, a meteorologist for the Canadian Hurricane Centre.

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, delayed a planned trip to Japan, where he was to attend the funeral of the former prime minister Shinzo Abe, in order to receive briefings and support the government’s emergency response, his press secretary said on Twitter.

“It’s going to a bad one,” Trudeau said. “We of course hope there won’t be much needed, but we feel there probably will be. And we will be there for that.

“In the meantime, we encourage everyone to stay safe and to listen to the instructions of local authorities and hang in there for the next 24 hours.”

On Friday, Fiona reached Bermuda, hitting the island with heavy rain and high winds. Authorities in the area opened shelters and closed schools, AP reported.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” said Michael Weeks, the country’s security minister, adding that there were no major reports of damage, but that citizens should remain indoors and stay off the roads.

Related: Bermuda and Canada brace for Fiona as Puerto Rico counts cost

In Canada, people have been preparing for the storm, reported CBC, and sharing a number of storm-prepping techniques on social media, such as keeping extra batteries on hand and using ice to keep food cold in case of a power outage.

Meteorologists are especially concerned about the potential damage from storm surges in coastal areas. They fear impacts could be worse than those inflicted by Hurricane Juan when it devastated the Halifax area in 2003.

“We’re looking at the potential for maybe near or even the highest water levels they’ve ever seen, so that could be quite, quite dangerous, quite damaging,” the Environment Canada meteorologist Rob Carroll told CBC.

Officials on Prince Edward Island sent an emergency alert warning of severe flooding along the northern shore of the province. “Immediate efforts should be taken to protect belongings,” the alert said. “Avoid shorelines, waves are extremely dangerous. Residents in those regions should be prepared to move out if needed.”

At Samson Enterprises boatyard in the small Acadian community of Petit-de-Grat on Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island, Jordan David was helping his friend Kyle Boudreau tie down Boudreau’s lobster boat Bad Influence in the hope it would not be lifted and broken by winds.

“All we can do is hope for the best and prepare as best we can,” said David. “There’s something coming, and just how bad is yet to be determined.”

Boudreau said he was worried. “This is our livelihood. Our boats get smashed, our traps get smashed – it’s stuff you don’t have to start your season next year,” he said.

Hurricanes in Canada are rare, with storms usually losing their power as they reach colder waters.

The storm had caused five deaths during its trek to Canada – two in Puerto Rico, two in the Dominican Republic and one on the French island of Guadeloupe.

With the Associated Press