St John`s: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday the military has been deployed to help cleanup efforts in eastern Newfoundland in the aftermath of Hurricane Igor.
After touring two communities hit hard by the storm, Harper announced that the provincial government had requested assistance to help with emergency response efforts.
Harper said the military would help deal with flood and wind damage as well as deliver food, water, fuel and medical aid to some communities. He said the military would repair bridges and roads as needed.
Harper visited yesterday as the cleanup and tallying up of the damage continues. Igor flooded roads and downed trees when it struck on Tuesday.
Provincial crews reopened a section of a key highway on yesterday after heavy rainfall carved a deep crater, cutting off traffic flow from one half of the province to the other.
More than 20 centimetres of rain fell in some regions. Police blamed one death on the storm as an 80-year-old man was swept out to sea by a torrent of water.
Hurricanes usually weaken over cold north Atlantic waters but Igor met another weather system on Tuesday and inundated the Atlantic province with rain.
Bob Pike of Newfoundland Power said roughly 15,000 customers remain without power.
PTI
