St. John’s and area digging out
Region slowly returning to normal after 90 cm of snow dumped in weekend storm
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Much of the northeast Avalon in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, including the City of St. John’s, remained paralyzed Monday following Friday’s recordbreaking, once-in-a-lifetime blizzard.
On the third morning since the 77 to 93 centimetres of snow brought the region to a near-standstill, the municipalities updated their respective states of emergency.
In St. John’s, the state of emergency is expected to remain in effect today, however the city is making concessions to allow for private snow clearing efforts to continue, along with gas stations to enable the clean up, and, as of this morning, some pharmacies being given an permission to open for certain hours.
The city also announced that basic food stores — supermarkets, convenience stores, and pharmacies — would be permitted to open on today between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
This does not include bars, restaurants, fast food chains and outlets.
Residents were asked to be prepared to purchase enough food to last 48 hours and to exercise extreme caution on the way to the store, whether walking or driving.
Meanwhile, the nearby municipalities of Mount Pearl, Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, Torbay and Paradise all lifted their states of emergency on Monday. That said, those municipalities are encouraging residents to stay inside and off the roads as much as possible to facilitate a quicker cleanup.
Many health-care staff from doctors and nurses to kitchen and housekeeping staff and other fields went to work Thursday ahead of their Friday shifts and the looming blizzard and worked straight through till Sunday when they finally got to change up staff at Eastern Health facilities.
“It was like a MASH (wartime mobile army surgical hospital) unit. They did whatever they could to come together…. That is the kind of thing that makes you feel good about work,” said Judy O’keefe, vice-president, clinical services for Eastern Health.
“People were so positive. They just helped each other out. There was laughter, they worked together as a really good team, whether it was surgeons or housekeeping staff cleaning a room.”
The kitchen staff — helped out by others pitching in served meals three times a day to patients and staff, as well as family members visiting and outpatients who were stuck in the facilities once the state of emergency was put in place.
Paramedics had to go out throughout the blizzard guided by plows.
Approximately 400 military personnel began to arrive Monday to aid efforts to clear up the streets.
“We have a couple of very busy days ahead of us,” Sgt. Hannah Gaultois, one of the reservists lending a hand, told The Telegram. “There’s going to be a lot of shovelling. A lot of people putting in 12-plus hour days shovelling alone.”
Small teams were spread out across the capital city working through a list of 160 homes to visit as of noon Monday, with more addresses getting added throughout the day. As of Monday, seven teams were in place.
Personnel from CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick and CFB Halifax arrived Sunday night, and members of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment based in western Newfoundland were due to arrive Monday afternoon.
“Four hundred people is a lot of people,” Gaultois said. “However, it also a pretty big area to dig out, so we’re going to be working essentially around the clock to get everyone dug out.”
According to Gaultois, personnel got together Sunday to organize the supplies needed for the task. Monday marked the first day of shovelling and snowclearing for military members.
“Our main priority, which we’ve worked with the city on, is those that are higher priority for medical conditions. For instance, if you have an appointment to the hospital. If there’s an emergency situation. If you can’t get out of your home, for example. If there was an emergency such as a fire. Support to senior citizens. Support to those with mobility issues — ones that certainly would not be able to do any shovelling on their own. Those are the main priorities the City of St. John’s has handed down to us.”
The deployment, carried out through the Canadian Armed Forces, is expected to last for seven days.