Scenes from St. John’s in storm’s aftermath
Continuous stream of city plows, a bit of damage and neighbours helping each other
At the intersection of Blackmarsh Road and Hamilton Avenue Extension, the lights flashed red. One light was missing, and one crosswalk light had been bent down at an almost 90-degree angle.
Pedestrians walked on the road, typically stopping when vehicles passed by, and moving to the side, waiting for them to pass. A couple of people stopped each other to see if anyone had information on whether any stores were open and what they were selling.
At Rockcliffe Heights Apartments, superintendant Kevin Kelly was keeping the snowclearing organized, while residents helped shovel each other’s cars out. The cars were then moved to the other side of the lot, so snowplowing could continue. Kelly said organizing it was no problem at all.
At the city depot on Blackler Avenue, a steady flow of city plows and dump trucks went in and out, as a man and a child shovelled the driveway directly across the street.
“At least they’re getting it done,” the man said.
Down Glenview Terrace a child was sliding in his backyard and neighbours helped to push a car out of the driveway where it was stuck on some snow.
On Topsail Road, traffic was slightly heavier, though still relatively sparse. The street was plowed wider than the side streets. Several people waved as they passed.
Baptiste Neis was walking her dog, Lumus, up Topsail Road. Her experience hadn’t been particularly pleasant, and she wishes those who were driving would slow down.
On Amherst Heights, the shouts of children could be heard from the backyard of a house as a makeshift block party had begun.
After the shovelling was finally done, several families from the area had gathered to relax around a small fire.
Most of the families were young and relatively new to the area, compared to Percy and Dorothy Rideout, who have lived there for 60 years.
“We wouldn’t have been able to manage without our neighbours,” Dorothy said of Friday’s storm.
The kids ranged from the age of two to ten and most of them were taking turns sliding down the hill behind the house. A couple of the adults took turns on the slides as well, though they didn’t manage to gather as much speed as the children, who would sometimes need to be stopped by the adults positioned at the bottom of the hill.
Nearer to the house, a large pot of hot chocolate had been placed in the snow. While kids asked for refills, the parents stood around talking about how much snow had fallen and reminiscing about the things they loved about playing in the snow as kids.
Most agreed the amount of snow we had now seemed about the amount they remember as kids, though they don’t remember it ever falling all at the one time, as it did last Friday.