Some are still trying to get over Fiona one year later

One year ago Atlantic Canadians woke up to the devastation from Hurricane Fiona.

Clarence Dawe, a 78-year-old resident from Sydney Mines, N.S., still gets emotional when he talks about his experience from the storm.

“I never forgot the day. I never want to experience anything like that again,” he said

Fiona's destruction left the veteran without power for nearly a month, and his property covered in large downed trees.

“I sat for 27 days. All i would do is sit and look at the damage that was done here, smoke cigarettes and cry, because i was helpless. I didn't know where to turn,” said Dawe

12 months later and roofing companies in Cape Breton are still struggling to keep up with calls to fix Fiona related damages.

“I still have over 500 estimates sitting on my desk at home. We completed about 650 and 700 jobs since. I got a crew of 8 guys, so it’s a lot of work,” said Donald Campbell Jr., owner of That’s Right Roofing in Sydney, N.S.

The Executive Director of United Way Cape Breton, Lynne McCarron says the storm not only left physical scars, but emotional trauma as well.

“Somebody said last week with the weather and some power outages, they heard a generator come on and got triggered,” she said

Dawe didn’t have insurance and has applied for disaster relief, but their response surprised him.

“I had close to $16,000 in replacement value in what i lost and they offered me $1,088, an insult,” he said

Dawe says he has appealed the government's offer and is waiting to hear back.

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