Boaters rescued from Yellowknife Bay
Gale force winds damage property around city
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Two boaters had to be rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary on a very windy Saturday after they were stranded on an island in Yellowknife Bay.
The two people were out on the bay near Ndilo in a 14-foot boat when they ran into difficulty navigating their craft and could not make it back to the mainland.
"Yellowknife RCMP called in the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary who attended to the island and retrieved the individuals without incident," stated RCMP spokesperson Marie York-Condon in an e-mail.
She did not identify the people who were rescued. Joel Gowman, spokesperson for the coast guard auxiliary, said six search and rescue personnel ventured out in the auxiliary's boat to rescue the stranded people.
According to Environment Canada's website, wind gusts at the Yellowknife Airport reached 83 kilometres an hour on Saturday afternoon. A strong gale occurs when winds reach 75 km/h.
There were no other serious incidents reported, according to officials with the city and the RCMP. But Hal Logsdon, president of the NWT Float Plane Association, said there was no doubt that it was an extremely windy day - windy enough to move his
floatplane which was parked
at the Yellowknife Airport.
"The airplane was on floats, basically sitting up on pallets, and the wind skewed it around maybe 15 to 20 degrees. There was no damage to it. It was tied down with concrete blocks," Logsdon said.
"Close to 10 years ago we had an awful wind storm and my plane was overturned on Back Bay, causing $15,000 worth of damage."
Logsdon said it was just a stroke of luck that his plane was on land this time. He put it on water Monday night.
There was no damage to any planes at the airport Saturday despite the high winds, according to Greg Hanna, spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure which oversees the facility.
There were some large tree limbs that came down around the city as well as a large business sign on Old Airport Road across from Canadian Tire but no injuries or significant damage was reported.
Wind damage claimed some metal siding off the Hudson's Bay warehouse heritage site in Old Town. Neighbouring resident Jane Peart said she glanced out her window to see sections of siding fly off the building.
Although it could have posed a hazard, she said the owner had someone on location immediately to attend to the damage.
- with files from Robin Grant
