Four hamlets bear brunt of first major storm of season
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Rankin Inlet (Dec 13/00) - Winter blew into the Kivalliq Region with a vengeance this past week.
The communities of Rankin Inlet, Baker Lake, Arviat and Whale Cove took the brunt of the season's first major blizzard, with one storm-related fatality occurring in Baker.
Heavy snowfall was reported across the region.
Coral Harbour, Chesterfield Inlet and Repulse Bay also felt the effects of the blizzard, but not as severely as the other four hamlets.
The region was pounded for more than 48 hours by winds gusting in excess of 80 kilometres per hour.
Temperatures plummeted below -60 C with the wind chill and extremely hazardous frostbite conditions were reported.
In such conditions, frostbite can occur in seconds on exposed skin.
Arviat SAO Darren Flynn says the bulk of the blizzard descended upon the hamlet about 4 p.m. Dec. 3.
"By Monday it was quite bad and the entire hamlet had to be shut down for the day," says Flynn.
"We were back in operation by Tuesday morning, but it was still pretty dusty with blowing snow all day Tuesday and Wednesday."
Flynn says the cold weather has the hamlet coping with the usual problems of trying to keep sewage and water trucks running.
"In temperatures this low, the trucks go out and spend a couple of hours working and then they have to be taken back in for a little warm up.
"It's hard to keep the hoses from freezing with these temperatures and it's still early."
The storm put extra strain on Arviat's resources as the hamlet is down because one loader is being retrofitted.
"We had mechanics in from the other hamlets last week and did a training course with Powell Arctic.
"Our two mechanics are trying to finish the remainder of the retrofit on the loader in between trying to keep the water and sewage trucks running."
