Skip to content

Newfoundland hit by winter storm

Winter storm blasts Newfoundland for more than three days now

The winds in Channel-Port aux Basques on Newfoundland’s southwestern coast often blow hard, but trucker Terry Osmond says he can’t remember a holiday weekend when the gusts have hit his town with such force.

“It’s terrible,” he said Wednesday, as he drove his fuel truck around the port where the Marine Atlantic ferry that runs to Nova Scotia was tied up due to high seas.

“We’ve been at it for the past three days now, and we’ve had blizzard conditions at times,” said Osmond, 57.

As he made his deliveries on Wednesday, he took photos of the damage, including roofing that blew off the local Home Hardware store and siding that was detached from buildings.

“I don’t remember wind like this in years,” he said. “But the power stayed on. We’re lucky for the power.”

Much of Newfoundland and Labrador was under wind or blizzard warnings on Wednesday, and Marine Atlantic ferry service between Port aux Basques and North Sydney, N.S., was cancelled.

RELATED: Power restored to thousands in Nova Scotia

The ferry service was advising passengers to check its website for updates on when travel would resume, with crossings delayed until Thursday, according to website postings as of 10 a.m. local time.

Environment Canada was reporting flurries and snow squalls combined with winds gusting to 110 kilometres per hour in some parts of the province.

The windchills were in the minus 20 Celsius range.

The only area not under warnings was the Buchans and the interior region in the centre of the province.

The RCMP in Deer Lake was warning that travel conditions were bad, with high winds causing white-out conditions on the highways.

Environment Canada said conditions were expected to improve Wednesday night as winds shift to the northwest and begin to ease.

The Canadian Press

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.