‘We can’t survive another one’: Resort manager reflects on Fiona as Hurricane Beryl strikes the Caribbean

By Sarah Plowman

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    HALIFAX (CTV Network) — Some Canadians are still recovering after Hurricane Fiona hit nearly two years ago, and are worried about what this hurricane season could bring.

Kathy Graham-MacKinnon, manager of the Glenghorm Beach Resort in Ingonish, N.S., has been following the updates from the Caribbean closely as Hurricane Beryl closes in on Jamaica after leaving a trail of devastation across other island countries.

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking because that’s their homes and that’s their lives and they’re gone,” said Graham-MacKinnon.

The hurricane, now a category four storm, was the earliest category five hurricane on record.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association is forecasting a more active hurricane season than usual due to a number of factors including warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and La Nina conditions in the Pacific.

“I’m very, very concerned about it being a higher than average hurricane season,” said Graham-MacKinnon.

“If we get hit by another hurricane here, we are not going to be able to survive it if we get damage.”

Cottages at the Glenghorm Beach resort were ripped apart during post-tropical storm Fiona in September 2022. The storm hit Ingonish at high tide, bringing in much of the ocean with it.

Two cottages were destroyed and others were damaged. Beach rocks and debris became strewn across its lawn.

“It ripped shingles off. It tore awnings off, you know, the coverings of the doorway. We lost so many trees,” said Graham-MacKinnon.

The business had pushed through COVID-19 and finished renovations just before the storm.

Nearly two years on, they’re still down two cottages and down revenue.

The insurance process also left the resort manager disappointed.

“We did not get what I thought we should have got for what we lost,” she said, adding the resort is still waiting to receive money for income lost.

“We’re still trying to pick up the pieces.”

Even when Fiona swept across Atlantic Canada, Graham-MacKinnon and her team prepared as best they could.

“It didn’t matter,” she said. “Mother Nature, she’s got the upper hand.”

The manager said she’s hoping for the best but doesn’t have a great deal of confidence that the business won’t face a bad storm again this year.

“Hoping is not a good word when you’re running a business,” she said. “We can’t survive another one.”

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