Historic steeple topples as latest Atlantic storm lashes East Coast
HALIFAX — A small steeple that’s a part of Halifax’s urban landscape toppled early Wednesday in a fierce winter storm that left thousands of Maritimers facing power outages, school closures and flight cancellations.
Rev. Betsy Hogan, the minister at the historic St. Matthew’s United Church founded in 1749, said the damage is part of a worrying trend of powerful storms disrupting her church and the lives of some of the region’s poorest citizens.
Residents of an overnight shelter in the Barrington Street church’s basement heard the crash and alerted the building administrator in the middle of the night, she said.
The main steeple of the church withstood the gusts, but one of the smaller steeples on the building had plunged to the ground, breaking part of a wrought iron fence that lined the sidewalk.