Bruce Lee is arguably one of the world’s most famous martial artists. A quick Google search will tell you just how powerful a fighter he was in his prime. His punches were delivered at speeds around 190 km/h and one of his signature moves called a skip sidekick could send a grown man weighing 90 kg flying 20 meters. So, when Frederictonians heard wind of a hurricane with his namesake, they flew into action to prepare for what they thought would be one hell of a beating.
Stores were packed to the brim and selling out water jugs, bread, non-perishable and canned goods. For the first time since 2020, Frederictonians were passing up 20% off chicken, ground beef and pork, and gas prices went rocketing up to $1.90 p/l!
People are now reporting they regret their preparation decisions. While the people of Fredericton were expecting something real-Lee out of hand, a hurricane as deadly as Bruce Lee, they instead suffered one big old wet fart from mother nature.
The streets of Fredericton flooded, as they always do when it rains more than 10ml. The wind, while not overly aggressive, did shower the streets with the newly red and yellow leaves, clogging gutters, and eves. Fredericton Fire Chief Dwayne Killingbeck said in an interview with CBC that Fredericton’s infrastructure was able to handle the storm. So why was everyone so worried beforehand?
To be fair, the storm tracker at many times placed Fredericton in the eye of the storm, but as time went on it became apparent that the city was outside even the outskirts of the storm zone. Also, to put into perspective the storm experience Frederictonians have, we need to hop in our time machines and travel back to July 2014 when east coast citizens were gut-punched with winds that reached north of 150 km/h as well as a tropical storm to top it all off! Not only that but Hurricane Arthur knocked out the power of the entire Fredericton region for a whole week.
Let’s not forget to mention the rich history of flash flooding in the area, the worst happening in 1973 when the river rose over 28 feet.
At the end of the day was Hurricane Lee everything it was made to seem? No, but we can take a very important lesson from this and that is to be prepared. Until the hurricane is passing you by, you won’t know if it’s an Albert or just a Lee, so stay safe, and stay prepared.
