Hurricane Bill knocks out power to thousands in Atlantic Canada

Category 1 Hurricane Bill approached the coast of Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada around noon local time. The center of the huge storm has picked up speed in the last day or two, now moving at about 60 kilometres an hour. At least 32 000 customers lost power in Nova Scotia on Sunday, and more are expected to join them as the storm races up the coast. Hurricane force winds extend to about a 100 km from the centre, while tropical force winds go to about 400 km away. Isolated amounts of 60 to 80 millimetres of rainfall have already affected Nova Scotia. Bill is expected to became extratropical within a day and cross the Atlantic, possibly affecting Scotland in the next 48 to 96 hours. A receiver off the coast of Canada reported a 24 m wave earlier on Sunday, and Bill claimed its first casualty, a 54 year old surfer caught in the dangerous rip currents off the Florida coast. Elsewhere, three people are missing after being swept away by a wave in Maine.