Nova Scotia: Heavy rains and winds wreaked havoc in the Atlantic Canada region. Storm Fiona hit the region early Saturday morning as a severe post-tropical cyclone. Canadian weather forecasters have warned that it will become the strongest storm the country has ever seen.

Cyclone Fiona became a post-tropical storm on Friday evening. Meteorologists warn that there is a possibility of a very strong cyclone, rain and large waves.

More than 250,000 Nova Scotia Power customers — about half of all customers in the province — were affected by outages just past 1 a.m. local time.

The tally rose by another 28,000 by the end of the hour.

The fast-moving Fiona was forecast to make landfall in Nova Scotia before dawn Saturday, with its power down from the Category 4 strength it had early Friday when passing by Bermuda, although officials there reported no serious damage.

"It's going to be a bad one," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who decided to delay his trip to Japan for the funeral of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We of course hope there won't be much needed, but we feel there probably will be," Trudeau said. "Listen to the instructions of local authorities and hang in there for the next 24 hours."

Bob Robichaud, Warning Preparedness Meteorologist for the Canadian Hurricane Centre, said Fiona was shaping up to be a bigger storm system than Hurricane Juan, which caused extensive damage to the Halifax area in 2003.

Authorities in Nova Scotia also sent an emergency alert to phones warning of Fiona's arrival and urging people to stay inside, avoid the shore, charge devices and have enough supplies for at least 72 hours. Officials warned of prolonged power outages, wind damage to trees and structures and coastal flooding and possible road washouts.

Fiona so far has been blamed for at least five deaths — two in Puerto Rico, two in the Dominican Republic and one in the French island of Guadeloupe.