SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — One was hauling a boat out of the water.
Another was scrambling to take down or move event tents.
A third was securing her backup wedding plans.
It wasn’t hard Friday to find Islanders already feeling the impact of hurricane Dorian.
The hurricane, or rather its tropical storm remnant, is expected to hit Prince Edward Island today and pummel the province with wind gusts of up to 100 km/h and torrential rains up to 130 mm.
That bride making alternative arrangements on Friday was Brianne MacNevin.
She and her fiancée, Matthew MacLean were scheduled to get married on a scenic Island cliffside in Seaview this afternoon.
The couple lives in Kingston, Ont., but are originally from Summerside and travelled home to get married by the water.
As fate would have it, the happy couple would have been exchanging their vows right about when the storm is expected to start moving over the Island.
A planner by nature, MacNevin had pre-arranged a backup plan of moving the ceremony to their reception venue, The Loyalist in Summerside.
Until early this week she was confident she wouldn’t need it.
That changed in a hurry when Dorian started tracking towards Atlantic Canada.
“I am not calm. I’ve had five to 10 meltdowns. The emotions are real,” half-heartedly joked MacNevin.
“I’m not really worried about pictures at this point. I think I’ve gone through the grieving process. Now I just hope (the wedding) actually occurs, I hope we don’t lose power,” she added.
“We’re making it work.”
She credits the willingness of vendors to be flexible and a touch of pre-planning with saving her big day.
Some other Island brides are apparently not as lucky. MacNevin had heard that a few outdoor weddings only had tents as backup plans and they had truly been left scrambling.
Jamie Caseley, manager of Caseley’s Tent and Party Rentals in Kelvin Grove, was dealing with plenty of those phone calls this week.
Caseley said the company’s large event tents are rated for winds up to 100 km/h, but there are a lot of variables that apply, and they were just not willing to take the chance.
They have been working with their customers to find alternative arrangements for their events, be it finding a new venue or moving their weddings forward by a day.
One couple even had a tent liner installed inside a venue to create the illusion of being in a tent.
“Everyone has been pretty understanding of the situation. It doesn’t happen very often that we’ll go to the point of dismantling tents because of a wind event,” said Caseley.
“It was hectic, but we were lucky with everyone that we worked with.”
For those with items they can’t easily move inside, like boats, the incoming storm also posed worries.
In Summerside Friday morning, Leo Stewart, Mike Gallant, and Glen Grant backed a truck and trailer down the slipway and secured a small motorboat for removal from the water.
All three men are either employed by or helping out at the Silver Fox Entertainment Complex and marina. Grant is a past commodore at the marina and has weathered his fair share of storms.
Most captains will try to either remove or secure anything on their vessels that could fly off in a storm and add more buoys for padding.
There were a few people doing that throughout the week, he said.
Summerside’s marina is well protected though, he added, so no one was rushing to get their larger vessels out of the water.
“We hunker down right here,” he said.
Along the docks, Blair Campbell was on his vessel taking just some of those precautions Grant mentioned.
“Why take the risk?” asked Campbell.
“You cannot underestimate Mother Nature.”
Reporters in Summerside and across the SaltWire Network will have continuing coverage of the tropical storm throughout the weekend and available online at www.journalpioneer.com.
