Nova Scotians down south prepare ahead of Hurricane Irma

As the largest Atlantic Ocean hurricane ever recorded bears down on the Caribbean, some Nova Scotians vacationing in the region are scrambling to pack their bags and head back home ahead of the massive storm.

Colten Steele and his girlfriend, who are from the Halifax area, are cutting their weeklong Dominican Republic holiday shortto return to Canada in time to miss Irma, which is due to hit the island nation overnight.

"It wasn't until yesterday that we got a notice in our hotel room telling us that today at four o'clock they'll be evacuating people to a safe shelter on the resort that is built for storms," said Steele.

Shortly after, he said, they got an email from WestJet rescheduling their flight so they could return home today.

Canadian airlines Air Transat and WestJet have sent planes to pick up travellers from Dominican Republic as well as Turks and Caicos ahead of Hurricane Irma.

The first planes left Toronto's Pearson and Montreal's Trudeau airports by 7 a.m. ET, and are all slated to return by 7 p.m. ET.

The eye of the Category 5 hurricane made landfall early Wednesday morning in the Caribbean island of Barbuda, with maximum sustained winds of 295 km/h, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.

"At first we were obviously a little disappointed to cancel our vacation," said Steele.

"But at the end of the day it feels nice to have that safety of being able to get home and not have to worry about this huge Category 5 hurricane that is basically barrelling for our resort right now."

Resort workers cool under pressure

Steele saidhe feels confident they would have been safe staying at the shelter at the Punta Cana resort, which he said was big enough to hold about 2,000 people. Those whowork at the resort have been cool under pressure, he said.

"The locals have been very calm and reassuring that they have a plan in place and that they've been through this before," said Steele. "The service at the resort has been great because we've been asking questions about it all week and they've been really great at helping us out that way."

In Barbuda, the storm ripped the roof off the island's police station, forcing officers to seek refuge in the nearby fire station and at the community centre that served as an official shelter.

Irma also knocked out communication between islands and destroyed at least one anemometer the device used to measure wind speeds, according to the weather-monitoring branch of NASA.

Nova Scotianin Florida prepares

Todd Stoddard, a veterinarian from Stewiacke, N.S., lives in West PalmBeach, Fla. He has lived in Florida since 2015. He said he's keeping a close eye on Irma's course.

"My spirits are still pretty good for now," said Stoddard. "The latest information that I have is showing the storm isgoing to be tracking up the East Coast as opposed to the more centre part of the state and that's where I live. On West Palm on the East Coast," said Stoddard.

So far, Stoddard says people in his area have not been given an evacuation order but he said he's preparing for the worst.He has stocked up on food and water and plans to hunker down for if and when Irma hits.

"As soon as the trucks come in with the water,peopleare lining up to grab it and take it. People are going withcartloadsof water just to stock up and be ready," saidStoddard.

Boarding up windows

Stoddard is also boarding up the windows on his house that he only bought three months ago. He said plywood in his area was difficult to find.

"It took me about four hours to find a place that still had inventory left," said Stoddard. "Some of the other places I had went to in person there were people sitting there with empty carts waiting for trucks to arrive with more plywood."

Stoddard said he has three days' worth of supplies for the storm. He has coolers ready for if he loses electricity and needs to transfer food from his freezer. He also has a box of wine.

Friends and neighbours of Stoddard's are also hunkering down and getting ready for the storm. He said there were lines of people waiting to get into Costco hours before the store opened.

"I can feel that the anxiety levels are starting to go up. Even myself, I can start feeling my anxiety levels starting togo up now," said Stoddard.

Prior to Irma, Stoddard said his only experience with a major storm was Hurricane Juan. Juan hit Nova Scotia in 2003.