Winds gusting upwards of 150 km/h bombarded the west coast from Port aux Basques all the way up to the Bonne Bay area. Heavy rain mixed with snow covered up the patches of green that were finally starting to show after a particularly harsh winter.
It was enough to send snowplows out onto the highways once again, and delay flights at the Deer Lake Regional Airport. The airport reported five flight delays and two cancellations according to the facility’s website on Friday afternoon.
A Canadian North plane that was supposed to take off Friday morning was still sitting on the tarmac by 4 p.m., and airport officials guessed that it may not have been leaving until sometime Friday night.
Ferry services were interrupted as well, as the storm moved in Thursday evening. Marine Atlantic postponed all its ferry departures out of Port aux Basques citing eight-metre waves and winds as high as 160 km/h on the gulf.
“We postponed (the ferry crossings) last evening, and we are hoping to be able to get back on schedule for this evening,” said Marine Atlantic spokesman Darrell Mercer, who said he had also been in contact with staff in Nova Scotia.
“Complicating this is the fact that in North Sydney they’re dealing with a large amount of snow along with wind, so it’s not a nice day on the Gulf today.”
He added that most passengers seem to be understanding of the fact that the delays were the best call for the company to make, given what kind of sailing conditions they would be facing otherwise.
The provincial Department of Highways reported no major incidents as its trucks put out salt early Friday morning. As of noon, the Trans-Canada Highway was clear, with no cars off the road.
Many schools in the region were closed, leading the RCMP to suspect that to be the reason why it was so quiet for them on the roadways.
“We didn’t get any reported incidents while it was stormy,” said Sgt. Cal Barter. “There were no calls out of the ordinary, and people seemed to be either driving safely or staying off the road altogether.”
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary also reported a quiet overnight period for their officers, with no accidents or other incidents reported.
Environment Canada is calling for partly sunny skies today and flurries Sunday, with weekend temperatures of around 2 C for today and Sunday.
phutchings@thewesternstar.com
Twitter: WStarDeerLake
