Hurricane-force winds ravage Newfoundland, bringing traffic to a halt

‘Strongest storm we’ve seen in more than a decade’

phones as if they were at a concert and singing along to Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline during the 66-minute delay.

One resident, Troy Mitchell, said the streets were littered with shattered traffic lights when he drove past an overturned truck in Paradise, a suburb of St. John’s. He said he did a “loop” around his home to check for damage every 30 minutes and his neighbours’ homes were stripped of their sidings.

“We’re pretty used to severe wind here, but this is something else,” Mitchell said. “We can actually feel the house shudder.”

Images on social media showed vehicles on their side and homes and buildings that appeared damaged.

Another resident in the provincial capital region, Dave Herder, said he has never seen winds so severe in St. John’s. He said winds have damaged buildings downtown and cracked utility poles in half. A structure collapsed on a construction site, he said.

“The only constant is the wind,” said Herder. “Things can change so quickly. It’s going to take a while to clean up.”

Environment Canada issued wind and blizzard alerts throughout Newfoundland and parts of Labrador and warned of “near zero” visibility in blowing snow.

The city of St. John’s was planning to open a warming centre today so people facing power outages would have a place to warm up and charge cellphones. A similar warming centre was opened at Conception Bay South outside the provincial capital Saturday evening.

Premier Dwight Ball’s office issued a statement Saturday night that the storm was creating “potentially unsafe conditions in our communities” noting the high winds and downed power lines.

“I encourage residents to prepare for continued outages and stay safe until conditions improve,” Ball said in the statement.

The statement also urged municipalities to review their emergency management plans.