One year after a wave driven by post-tropical storm Fiona slammed into the back of her house and twisted it like a corkscrew, Lori Dicks now lives up on a hill, far from the water.

She still has a view of the ocean, but she害羞草研究所檚 far enough away that there害羞草研究所檚 no chance it will swell up and swallow her entire life again like it did on the morning of Sept. 24, 2022, in Port aux Basques, N.L.

害羞草研究所淚 still think about it all the time. So much change has happened for us, for everyone. Even the whole town I find is affected, even the landscape has changed,害羞草研究所� she said in a recent interview from her new home across the province in Burin Bay Arm, N.L. 害羞草研究所淥n our side of the street where all our homes were, it害羞草研究所檚 completely gone. All of our homes are torn down now.害羞草研究所�

Fiona destroyed about 100 homes that morning in southwestern Newfoundland, and a 73-year-old woman died when she was swept out to sea. Houses that had belonged to families for generations were washed away or destroyed, and some lost everything inside their home.

Dicks and her husband Claude had lived in their Port aux Basques home for nearly three decades. They raised their daughter there. After Fiona cracked its foundation, the house was deemed too dangerous to return to, and it was condemned. Dicks was allowed back in for a brief time to remove what she could.

She feels lucky she was able to salvage anything at all.

Port aux Basques has now established what it calls the high-impact zone 害羞草研究所� an area deemed to be most at risk for severe damage from storms, even those with a fraction of Fiona害羞草研究所檚 power. Some residents call it the 害羞草研究所淔iona line.害羞草研究所�

Within that line, more than 80 homes were washed away by Fiona or later torn down after damage wrought by the storm left them uninhabitable, Mayor Brian Button said in an interview. Another 57 houses behind the line are still standing and occupied. Button said the owners will be bought out by the province so they can move somewhere else.

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The provincial government has paid out about $41.6 million in compensation to people in southwestern Newfoundland who lost their homes in the storm, according to a statement from the Department of Justice and Public Safety. Owners of the 57 homes sill inside the impact zone will receive at least $200 per square foot for their houses, as well as money for their land, the department said.

The decisions to move people have been devastating to make, Button said, but they were necessary: Fiona crumbled so much of the town害羞草研究所檚 shoreline into the sea, those houses are now dangerously close to the water.

害羞草研究所淭he whole thing is very emotional,害羞草研究所� he said. 害羞草研究所淲e see all the damage that害羞草研究所檚 around, that害羞草研究所檚 visible. But nobody has realized the mental health aspect that this has had on the community.害羞草研究所�

害羞草研究所淔or me, personally, it害羞草研究所檚 been a struggle 害羞草研究所� just to mentally try to keep it together and deal with it all,害羞草研究所� he added.

Beyond the long hours and gut-wrenching decisions required of him as the volunteer mayor of a town beset by a crushing disaster, he害羞草研究所檚 borne the brunt of some residents害羞草研究所� grief. Heartbroken residents have yelled at him, only to approach him later in tears to apologize, he said.

害羞草研究所淚害羞草研究所檝e had people say to me, 害羞草研究所榃ell, you don害羞草研究所檛 understand you didn害羞草研究所檛 lose anything.害羞草研究所櫤π卟菅芯克鶟 But Button said he has sat with hundreds of affected families, and he害羞草研究所檚 heard their stories and cried with them.

Ashley Smith is owner and managing director of St. John害羞草研究所檚-based climate consulting firm Fundamental Inc. She says that as the planet warms and powerful storms are expected to hit more frequently, the difficult discussions forced upon Port aux Basques need to happen in other coastal communities.

She uses the term 害羞草研究所渕anaged retreat害羞草研究所� to describe a process of identifying vulnerable coastal areas, and perhaps enacting bylaws against building new homes in those areas and moving people out of them, just as Port aux Basques is doing.

害羞草研究所淎ny community along the coast is going to be vulnerable. Especially the small ones that are largely unchanged from like 50, 60, 70, 100 years ago,害羞草研究所� Smith said in a recent interview. 害羞草研究所淢ost of the very small communities along (Newfoundland害羞草研究所檚) very long coasts are positioned right on the water 害羞草研究所� and that is a vulnerable situation.害羞草研究所�

Nova Scotia害羞草研究所檚 Atlantic coast is also vulnerable, she noted, as are parts of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

Conversations about managed retreat are fraught, she acknowledges. Asking people to leave behind homes that in many cases were built by family members generations ago is not easy. Most towns also don害羞草研究所檛 have the data they need to inform those decisions, she added.

But it will be safer and less traumatic for communities to begin the work voluntarily, rather than have it be forced upon them by a storm like Fiona, she said.

In their hilltop home in Burin Bay Arm, Dicks and her husband have started over. She害羞草研究所檚 rebuilt her hairstyling business in her new community, and she害羞草研究所檚 a short drive away from her 29-year-old daughter, who is set to give birth next month 害羞草研究所� Dicks害羞草研究所檚 first grandchild.

But she still fights back tears when she speaks about the morning Fiona hit, and the way it changed her life forever. She worries about her husband, who watched helplessly as the wave crashed into their house. Even their dog, Cooper, is having a hard time, she said.

She misses her neighbours back in Port aux Basques but doesn害羞草研究所檛 think she could handle regularly passing by her old neighbourhood, where many of the homes are gone.

害羞草研究所淚n a way, I害羞草研究所檓 glad I害羞草研究所檓 not there to drive around on our street and see it,害羞草研究所� she said. 害羞草研究所淏ecause I don害羞草研究所檛 think I could get past it, to tell you the truth.害羞草研究所�

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