Snow clearing resumes in Iqaluit after blizzard shuts down city
Much of city was left without power for six hours, closing most offices
Work to clear snow off Iqaluit’s streets resumed Thursday afternoon after a blizzard forced the municipality’s offices and recreation facilities, as well as schools and most businesses and organizations, to close for the day. Snow-clearing work was also temporarily stopped and the City of Iqaluit advised people to stay home and off the roads. At about 4 p.m., this heavy machinery was working to clear snow near Joamie School after the blizzard had eased up. (Photo by Daron Letts)
Road crews are back on Iqaluit streets clearing snow, but people in the city should avoid driving unless absolutely necessary, the city says.
“Staying off the roads will help crews operate safely and efficiently as visibility improves and cleanup continues following the blizzard,” a Thursday afternoon update from the city said.
The city pulled all crews from the road earlier in the day as a blizzard bore down on Nunavut’s capital, cutting power at around 7:30 a.m.
The outage lasted six hours and was restored at about 1:30 p.m., Qulliq Energy Corp. posted on social media.
As crews worked to restore service throughout the morning, parts of the city saw the lights come on temporarily only to go dark soon afterward.
Environment Canada reports light snow had been falling since Wednesday morning, which turned to blizzard conditions with light and blowing snow around 6 p.m. Wednesday.
It forecasts that the storm will continue Thursday, with light snow and blowing snow; current temperatures are -8 C and -20 C with the wind chill.
All non-essential city services and facilities remained closed Thursday.
Many Iqaluit businesses and organizations also announced they would be closed for the day, including Nakasuk, Joamie, Aqsarniit and Inukshuk schools.
How are family’s supposed to go KFC to feed their kids?
What took so long for the crew to mobilize? There’s a city wide power blackout, there’s a name for this: public emergency. Why did it take the “senior electrical technologist”, mechanics, plant superintendant etc. HOURS to get there. When the power goes out it should be ALL HANDS ON DECK ASAP. Big failure by the QEC and it’s owner, GN. QEC policy needs an internal review and leadership review.
You do realize there was a blizzard with zero visibility, right? I just want to confirm we were in the same place. Also I’m sorry you couldn’t have your morning cup of coffee due to outage, I bet that was stressful.
However, I believe the safety of the QEC employees getting to the plant in a safe manner was there too priority. As mentioned below, they rely on a loader to get them there safely and it got stuck.
Unless you have a clever idea that can get them there within “seconds” during a blizzard do tell, we’re all waiting to hear it.
Hats off to the QEC workers and all the operators clearing the roads. You guys work tirelessly and it doesn’t go unnoticed.
All the while the arm chair quarterback sitting comfortably in his living room while workers who can’t see 20 feet ahead is trying to deal with the problem.
The loaders had been out all during the storm seen them all day going past
The City’s operators were on the road at 6am before the power even went out and all throughout the day. Y’all should be praising them for their tremendous work they did. People need to stay home and plan ahead when a major weather event is coming.
I tip my hat to the crew for braving the weather this morning to manage the power outage. I heard a snow plow helping the crew ended up stuck for a while and couldn’t get out.
Very grateful to live in Iqaluit with crew on deck and ready and able to help the city during the blizzard.
Many communities have to wait until the weather is clear for a charter to be flown in and help.
I walked my dog and couldn’t see much more than 10-20ft in front of me!
Cant imagine what it was like having to drive through this condition with possibility of snow drifts.
Thanks QEC and crew!
I wish they would make a monument or statue honoring the brave men and women that work as power line technicians and electricians in nunavut. Definitely a hardcore career choice.
And while the city still has a “stay off the roads” PSA, the stores and restaurants decides to open which impedes snow clearing as everyone was rushing out of their houses. The city should give a fine to these establishment. What boggles my mind is people asking if stores are open in the middle of the blizzard.