Spring is decidedly not in the air throughout Alberta, with a spring storm bringing high winds and heavy snow that left many motorists stranded overnight on a northern highway.
“I took all the clothes of [my] suitcase and kind of made a makeshift little blanket nest to keep warm,” said Lance Kane, who has been stuck on Highway 63 south of Fort McMurray since about 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
“You kind of lie down, but you also don’t want to fall asleep in case it gets moving and you [become] the guy then holding it up.”
The snow started falling on Thursday. On Friday morning, Environment Canada issued a warning for snowfall totalling 30 to 50 centimetres south of Fort McMurray in the Wood Buffalo and Lac La Biche area.
According to an update from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, snow accumulation in some areas had already topped 60 centimetres — about two feet.
Kane left for Fort McMurray from Edmonton around 3 p.m. Thursday and was stopped in traffic about 100 kilometres south of Fort McMurray just before 7:30 p.m. He hasn’t moved “an inch” since then, he told CBC on Friday morning.
“I don’t see movement. A plow drove by … seems like there’s 20 cars still ahead of me.”
“You start to get cold and then you start questioning turning the truck on again, then burn more gas to get warm,” Kane told CBC News, explaining that he was trying to ration his fuel by running his vehicle for 15 minutes every three hours.
A video from Kane showed a helicopter arriving early Friday afternoon to deliver supplies to stranded motorists.
Efforts to clear roads, assist travellers
Parts of Highway 63, the main road leading to Fort McMurray about 430 kilometres north of Edmonton, was closed in both directions on Friday, as icy road conditions and poor visibility lead to multiple crashes. Affected stretches included both directions from Marianna Lake to Fort McMurray, as well as northbound from Wandering River.
Highway 881 was also impassible. Two semi-trucks collided on Highway 881 just north of Heart Lake, with the resulting debris blocking the roadway in both directions, according to Lac La Biche RCMP.
Travel is not recommended by RCMP in several parts of the province.
Husam Khalo, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation said in a statement to CBC News that crews are working to clear snow and remove stranded vehicles that are blocking the highway.
“Emergency services have also been on site providing supplies and fuel to stranded motorists,” Khalo said.
“The priority is to safely clear the roads as quickly as possible. The highway will reopen once it is safe to do so.”
Lending a hand
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo said it has stepped in “to help residents get home safely,” even though the area is outside its municipal boundary and the highways are a provincial responsibility.
Even ordinary citizens jumped in to help.
Fort McMurray resident Mohamed Tarrabin said he and some co-workers spent the night handing out food, fuel and water, with assistance from the RCMP.
He posted about it on Facebook and “in less than 10 minutes, I had over 10, 15 guys reaching out saying ‘Hey, my truck is ready and I have all the supplies that you need, and let’s just meet somewhere,'” Tarrabin told CBC.
They filled up six trucks and headed out, he said.
At about 2 a.m., Tarrabin heard from the owner of Jomaa’s Pizza.
“He called his crew and they all went [to] open the restaurant and they started cooking all the pizza for us. And they didn’t take a dime for it.”
“This is common in Fort McMurray. We had the fire, we had the flood, and people come together like there’s anything special about this community is the community spirit. We just have to put the call out there and be genuine about it and everybody is going to answer the call.”
Wild and windy
The storm didn’t just affect northeastern Alberta.
Powerful wind gusts up to 90 km/h created challenging travel conditions in a number of central Alberta communities, including Olds and Sundre, and down into Calgary. Other parts of the province are seeing winds between 30 and 50 km/h.
Environment Canada said winds were expected to weaken later Friday.
In Edmonton, residents who had to rescue patio furniture skittering away in howling winds Thursday night woke up to a blanket of snow, with more flakes landing in horizontal sheets as the day wore on.
RCMP issued a tow ban for Highway 21, from Fort Saskatchewan south to Highway 16, as well as for Highway 16 to Elk Island National Park. Blowing and drifting snow is causing reduced visibility and dangerous driving conditions that make tow operations too dangerous, RCMP said.
Parts of northern Saskatchewan through to northern Manitoba were also walloped by snow and wind. In Saskatchewan, some areas in the northeast were hit with anywhere between 18 to 25 centimetres and more was expected into the weekend.
Brian Proctor, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said the snow was welcome.
“Heavy snowfall in the boreal forest will help us moving forward in a better way [as we enter] forest fire season,” he said.
