Armed Forces in St. John’s as state of emergency stretches into fourth day

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A state of emergency stretched into its fourth day in St. John’s, N.L., Monday as Armed Forces personnel began to help dig out a city where travel remained difficult and some residents were relying on each other for food.

Eastern regions of Newfoundland have been largely paralyzed since Friday when a major blizzard dumped 76 centimetres of snow in a single day in the capital, amid winds gusting over 150 kilometres per hour.

“In many cases, the roads are still not safe to drive on, and emergency responders need unhindered access to provide emergency services,” a release from the provincial Municipal Affairs Department said Monday afternoon.

The province urged neighbours to continue to check on seniors, people with disabilities and others at risk from days of being housebound without access to food stores or prescription refills.

The city announced some stores would be allowed to reopen on Tuesday to sell “basic foods.”

“Residents please be prepared to purchase enough food for your family for 48 hours,” the city said in a release. “Future opportunities to open food stores during this state of emergency will be evaluated and communicated as conditions warrant.”

Green-clad Canadian Forces soldiers were being deployed around the city in response to calls from people in need of help with snow clearing.

A team of four soldiers chipped away Monday afternoon at a steep, buried driveway on Topsail Road, a task that took a few hours.

They were joined by a civilian passerby with a snowblower and encouraged by people in passing vehicles, who honked horns and shouted their thanks.

Bill Ash, 70, said the sight of a clear driveway was a relief after being snowed in for four days.

“I was in quite a predicament until I saw our military men turn up this morning,” he said. “I really appreciate everything they done.”

The Canadian Armed Forces said on Twitter it had deployed 300 personnel to the province Monday and expected close to 425 people on the ground by the end of Tuesday.

Brad Tuck, a 30-year-old musician, has passed the time shovelling snow and writing a song about “Snowmaggedon 2020.”

He said that after four days, some residents’ food supplies were running low on his street in the centre of town.

“Some people are running out of things …. People are having to help each other with food and if you’re stuck, you make do with what you have at the moment,” he said in a telephone interview.

His song’s lyrics praised the resilience of residents: “All hands got together, everybody worked as one / ’cause that’s what Newfoundlanders do when there’s work here to be done.”

Some neighbouring communities lifted states of emergency during daytime hours Monday, but one remained in place in the provincial capital, requiring most businesses to close and people to stay off the streets, with some exceptions.

After a second snowfall Sunday night, the city advised pharmacies would be closed Monday, updating later to say some may be allowed to open for prescriptions.

Search efforts continued Monday for 26-year-old Joshua Wall, who was last seen leaving his home in Roaches Line on Friday to walk through a wooded area to a friend’s home in nearby Marysvale.

The RCMP says the Avalon North Wolverines Search and Rescue would focus Monday on areas off the trail where it’s believed Wall was travelling on foot from his home.

– With files by Michael Tutton in Halifax.

Holly McKenzie-Sutter, The Canadian Press