Winter struck with a vengeance last weekend, bringing much of southern Saskatchewan to a standstill and forcing many to find someplace warm.
In Rockglen, Grasslands Health Centre became an impromptu gathering point after a blizzard knocked out power and left it as the only larger building in town with an alternative heat source.
Provincial officials told reporters in a conference call that the facility, which includes a special care home for 16 residents, was trying to accommodate as many people as it could.
The mayor and fire department were going door-to-door to determine who had fireplaces or wood stoves, said Garnet Matchett, director of operations for the health ministry’s emergency management branch.
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“Their concern now is if this goes much longer, they don’t have another facility that has power,” he said Jan. 15.
Later that day, SaskPower planned to bring in a generator to set up in the community hall as another meeting place. Residents were also conserving water because they needed power to operate the pump system.
Livestock water pumping systems were similarly affected.
Sandra Knoss, who ranches with her husband Calvin 19 kilometres from Rockglen, said their cows were going to have to eat snow. The main herd also has access to a natural spring.
The family was without power all weekend and woke up Monday morning to a house temperature of 7 C.
“We just got an old generator going so we’ll be warm,” Knoss said at lunchtime.
She said neighbours were starting to contact each other and make sure they were all safe. Most had phone service but no power.
At least 15 power poles were down near Coronach.
In Coronach, the Elks Hall was available for area residents after the power went out Jan. 23.
A winter storm warning for heavy snowfall issued late last week was upgraded to a blizzard Sunday as winds gusted between 70 and 100 km/h in the southwest and south central parts of the province.
The Cypress Hills Provincial Park got 45 centimetres of snow, but most areas received between 20 and 30 cm.
SaskPower spokesperson James Parker said Rockglen, Coronach, Fife Lake, Big Beaver, Ormiston, Ogema, Bengough and Viceroy were still without power the morning of Jan 25.
A number of rural customers in the areas south of Weyburn and Assiniboia were also in the dark. Parker estimated a total of 3,000 customers were affected. He said it could be a day or two before full service was restored because the roads were impassable.
“I can’t stress enough the difficulty our crews are having,” Parker said.
In some cases, power poles were down in the middle of fields but crews could not get to them.
SaskTel spokesperson Michelle Englot said the power outages also affected telephone service. About 1,500 customers had neither land line, nor cellular service, while others had lost their land line service only.
Ormiston, Willow Bunch, Ogema, Pangman, Bengough, Rockglen, Wood Mountain, Ceylon and Fife Lake were all affected.
Other affected services included bus service. Some routes were cancelled and many were delayed.
Saskatchewan Highways personnel said roads aren’t closed very often but several major routes were closed Jan. 24, including the Trans-Canada Highway from Regina west, all highways in the Moose Jaw area and parts of the Louis Riel Trail between Regina and Saskatoon.
Doug Wakabayashi, communications director, said crews do not go out when visibility is less than 200 metres. That occurred several times during the blizzard.
The volume of snow, combined with the wind, made it dangerous for plows to be on the road, he said.
By the morning of Jan. 25, most major roads were open but travel was not recommended on some.
Some secondary highways were still closed.
As well, school buses did not run in many locations and some schools were closed.
As the storm passed into Manitoba, Environment Canada said residents there could look forward to colder temperatures, particularly near the Saskatchewan border.
Blizzard warnings were in effect in southern Manitoba Jan. 25 and the storm was moving into Ontario. The Trans-Canada was closed west of Winnipeg, as was Highway 75 from Winnipeg to the U.S. border.
Bill McMurtry from Environment Canada in Calgary said the storm affected the extreme east side of Alberta, including Medicine Hat, Coronation and Hanna areas, but was concentrated in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
“This is the same system that brought heavy rains to California,” he said. “It crossed over the Rockies and redeveloped in Colorado. Colorado lows are the ones that give the greatest precipitation to the eastern Prairies.
“It’s the Idaho lows that affect the western Prairies.”
