Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, January 23, 2008

KIVALLIQ - There's always a price to be paid for two months of nice winter weather in the Arctic, and Old Man Winter came to collect across most of the Kivalliq this past week.

The hamlets of Rankin Inlet, Arviat, Chesterfield Inlet and Whale Cove were blasted by a five-day blizzard which began on Jan. 16 and continued on until Sunday, Jan. 20.

While Baker Lake, Coral Harbour and Repulse Bay all got a taste of the nasty-weather system, they were not hit as hard as the rest of the region.

Wind speeds stayed between 70 to 90 km/h for most of the system, which was accompanied by plenty of fresh snowfall that caused zero-visibility conditions for a good part of the storm.

As of press time, there were no injuries reported due to the storm, which was originally forecast to be a one-day disturbance on Jan. 16.

School was cancelled for the duration of the week in the four hamlets hit hardest by the storm, as were most community events.

Municipal crews worked feverishly during the storm, trying to keep roads passable for emergency vehicles as much as they could.

The problem was exacerbated in Arviat, Whale and Chester, which rely on trucked water-and-sewage services.

Glen Brocklebank of Chesterfield Inlet said the community is fortunate to have a dedicated, hard-working group of municipal employees.

He said the hamlet trucks were on the move constantly on Tuesday, Jan. 15, filling people's water tanks and emptying their sewage tanks before the storm hit.

The trucks weren't able to get back on the road until Jan. 18.

"I never heard of anyone actually running out of water, or having their holding tanks fill up, but everyone was certainly rationing water, especially homes with children," said Brocklebank.

"We have a baby in our home and, when the storm finally started to subside, the baby was the only really clean person in the house.

"The only problem I know about was a few construction workers who got tired of just hanging around the house and tried to get to work.

"They bogged their truck down pretty good, but, other than that, people played it safe and didn't venture too far from home during the storm."