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DEH CHO
Two days of heavy, wet snowfall caused havoc in portions of the Deh Cho.

A vehicle topped with snow drives past a snow-covered St. David's Anglican Church in Fort Simpson on May 17. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The snow fell primarily on May 16 and 17 in communities across the region including Fort Liard, Nahanni Butte, Trout Lake, Fort Simpson and Jean Marie River. Environment Canada issued snowfall warnings for those communities during the two days.

The snow reached depths of more than a half-metre in some locations, according to eyewitness accounts.

In Fort Simpson, the snowfall caused the closure of the Liard River ferry crossing from approximately 5 p.m. on May 17 until 11:20 a.m. on May 18.

Beginning last fall, the ferry landing on the Fort Simpson side started to become soft, said Fred

Lamb, the acting regional superintendent for the Department of Transportation.

The heavy rain followed by the recent snow exacerbated the problem, Lamb said.

"The snow was the final stroke," he said.

The department used heavy equipment to pull vehicles up the riverbank on Thursday until the bank became too slippery.

Ferry service continued on Thursday evening but only to move people across the river, Lamb said.

In order to reopen the ferry, the department obtained metal frame rig mats with wooden surfaces to build an approximately 73-metre roadway up the bank.

The snow also made highway driving unsafe.

"The road conditions were very, very bad," said Lamb.

Last Thursday a traffic report advised motorists to avoid unnecessary travel.

The snow was so heavy that plow trucks had to travel at reduced speeds and one was stuck in the ditch on Highway 1 until Friday, Lamb said.

Chief Stan Sanguez of Jean Marie River drove home from Fort Simpson on Thursday after participating in a Dehcho First Nations' leadership meeting.

"There was about two feet of snow," said Sanguez, describing the conditions on Highway 1.

Sanguez said he was pushing snow with his truck as he drove and had to remain in 4x4 for the entire drive.

What normally would have taken Sanguez one hour and 15 minutes from the far side of the ferry landing became a 2.5-hour journey.

In Jean Marie River, the snowfall measured approximately 76 centimetres, 2.5 feet, he said. Sanguez said snowfalls in late May aren't uncommon and there is a Dene Zhatie term to describe them that loosely translates to, "the last snowfall."

Heavy snow also caused temporary problems with the community's phone system, reducing service to local calls only.

Similar problems with long distance calls were reported in Nahanni Butte.

In Fort Liard, John McKee, the hamlet's senior administrative officer, said the snow affected highway conditions and the hamlet's landfill and sewage lagoon.

The landfill and sewage lagoon, which are located approximately 15 kilometres from the community outside of the valley, received a lot of excess moisture from the snow, McKee said.

He added it would now be a matter of allowing the landfill to dry and to determine how to deal with the excess water in the sewage lagoon.

In Fort Simpson, the heavy snowfall also affected electrical service.

Beginning at approximately 8:30 a.m. last Thursday morning, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation began receiving calls about power outages on top of the hill between the trailer park and the airport, said Todd Roche, the corporation's customer service manager.

Strong wind toppled trees onto the power lines, causing outages along certain portions of the line, Roche said.

As repair work was being done, trees continued to fall causing more outages.

As a result, some homes and businesses lost power more than once during the day.

Between eight and 10 trees fell on lines including one that broke the line to the Fort Simpson airport.

All power was restored by 9 p.m. that night, said Roche.

"The guys worked really hard," he said. "It was a lot of work under very difficult conditions."

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