The worst is over, but it's been a dramatic few days. On Monday a blizzard blew in to the Beaufort-Delta region (the northern part of the Northwest Territories), and got worse and worse during the evening and overnight. Apparently the winds got up to 90 km/hr.
Everyone says this is not a normal occurrence, and this is the worst weather they've seen... I'm not sure if I should take comfort in that or not!
In the middle of the night on Monday I was woken by the house shaking from the gusting wind, and couldn't fall back to sleep because it felt like a 5-hour earthquake -- I thought I was going to be tossed out of bed... not to mention the howling wind and the fear that my roof was going to blow off! As a friend said, he was afraid his house was going to land on the wicked witch of the west...
Schools and most offices were closed on Tuesday (yesterday) so I got to watch the drama unfold from the comfort of my living room -- luckily I have a cozy fireplace and lots of DVDs to watch (as the only TV channel I get is a very grainy CBC!)
Today it's a lot calmer, and we're back to work.
Below are some pictures of the action.
The roof at Inuvik airport suffered some damage. It's unclear when flights will be able to take off again, and also unclear if the roof damage will have any impact. A lot of people are on the waiting list!
It was kind of neat to see Inuvik on the CBC news -- first in the local language, then in English.
Luckily there was no damage to the house, as far as we can tell (although my neighbour to the back said that he thought some of our roof tiles blew off - I'm glad I rent, not own!). The only excitement was when our garbage box lid blew open. I have no idea if our garbage also swirled around the neighbourhood... |
I did discover that my front screen door is not very well insulated, as the force of the wind pushed snow through into the mudroom. On the plus side, the snow is so dry and powdery, I can just sweep it out!