IQALUIT
It was only a matter of time before Iqaluit residents and businesses crossed paths with a crippling snow storm, and that unfortunate day was Oct. 8.

The Garage and Roads Division of the Iqaluit Public Works department was out in full force on Oct. 8, clearing snow from roads and parking lots. Almost 15 centimetres of snow fell during the day. - Myles Dolphin/NNSL photo

The first major blizzard of the season left the city in a dismal state, forcing Qulliq Energy Corporation (QEC) to deploy all its crews in order to restore power to locations in both Iqaluit and Apex throughout the day and into the evening.

Fierce winds reaching 104 km/h and ice formations on power lines caused upwards of 10 outages, said Natalie Chafe-Yuan, director of corporate affairs for QEC.

"There were eight journeymen linesmen that were dispatched around town and there were 12 crew (technical people) working directly on the outages within the plant," she said.

"This essentially is 'all hands on deck' and everyone we had available. All crew worked throughout the day until the early evening."

Maintenance crews were dispatched in the wee hours of Oct. 8, going to work at 2 a.m.

The winds and ice were most problematic for QEC, causing power lines to sag and make contact with each other, creating "line slaps."

When the lines touch each other, a safety mechanism automatically kicks in and the power is disconnected, Chafe-Yuan explained.

Ravens are responsible for many of the line slaps and unscheduled power outages that take place over the summer.

No ravens were to blame on Oct. 8, though, when residents of both communities awoke to find themselves - and their vehicles, in many cases - blanketed in thick snow.

The temperature had dipped to -10 C by 11 a.m., when winds of 103.7 km/h were recorded by Environment Canada.

Residents of the Plateau area were delayed longer than others as QEC crews made repairs to Feeder 2, the distribution system that provides power to the Plateau and airport areas.

In the early evening, after power had been restored to most of the community, work was carried out near a few of the airport hangars, where physical damage was also detected.

Iqaluit Mayor John Graham said the city was ready for the storm, having previously reviewed its call-out procedures and making them more streamlined and effective.

City workers were out clearing the snow by 3 a.m., he said.

More than 10 centimetres of snow had accumulated by the end of the day, with a few more centimetres hitting the ground Oct. 9.

Iqaluit schools were closed during the day and government officials decided to send their employees home in the early afternoon.

Chafe-Yuan said the storm wasn't all doom and gloom, providing a valuable lesson to QEC crews on how to be better prepared for the next one.

"We're taking immediate action to mitigate this from happening in the future," she said.

"By this morning (Oct. 9), we knew which areas of town were our biggest concern. We're looking at areas where the lines sagged and now that we know where they are, we can tighten the lines and be better prepared for next time."

Last year's first major snow storm took place in late November.

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