Gone.....but not Forgotten

Igor that is.

He was very intense here. Driving into St. John's we see the number of trees that Igor snapped off....just like twigs. But...as intense as Igor was in our part of Newfoundland....he was far worse in other parts. Bonavista for one (and that is just one...there were many other areas hit very hard as well). In the grand scheme of things, Bonavista isn't all that far from us. As intense as Igor was here, I cannot imagine what it must have been like in some of the other areas on that day.

More pictures here from the Bonavista area.

The Newfoundland Way...

The Telegram is running this story today. It's about a NL town still stranded due to Hurricane Igor. The residents can't leave the town because of a washed out road, so they drive as far as they can, leave the keys in their car and walk across the gap. On the other side people have done the same thing but coming back into town. So they just pick up another car! Return and repeat.

Trouty battered, but holding together - Local - News - The Telegram

What a great way to handle this!

Rainfall amounts from hurricane Igor

Even though we didn't have any damage, we did have a significant amount of rainfall...even more than St. John's

And...scroll down underneath the rainfall map of NL and look at the Before and After photo of the red house. Wow...

Rainfall Map from Igor and another amazing photo

More pictures

A CBC reporter went up the Bonavista Penisula and here are some pictures she took along the way Where there is rubble...used to be roads What Odds Found Here

More help

The military arrived via ferry. These pictures were taken by Arlene Gibbons of Newfoundland.






Wow...here is one example of what is being referred to as "the road is washed out" more like totally gone. Notice the guard rail to the left of the picture. If you click on the picture itself, it will come up a bit larger (not the header picture at the top, but the first one down).

Click here for picture

A new day will dawn....

and the clean up from Igor has begun. Help has finally arrived and hopefully, these people who are stranded and cut off because of roads that are completely gone, will start to get the food, water and gasoline they have run out of.

It was a busy corridor on the ocean front area of our place today. Ships coming and going, bringing much-needed supplies to areas cut off by road.



Can you see the little fishing boats (click to enlarge and look in the lower right hand area of the ocean both in this picture and the previous one)


The ship from the Canadian Military was really moving quickly!



I can also hear (and see some fly overhead) a lot of helicopter activity.

When reports first started coming in, phrases like "the road is washed out" were being tossed around. When I hear that, I think of roads with water over them. When pictures started to come in, it was much more than that. The dirt underneath the roads were completely washed away and the road was totally gone! Huge craters were there. Our own Prime Minister said he's seen flooding in Canada before, but nothing like this. One hole was 70 ft X 70 ft'....and that was just one.

Friends found...

Yayyyy.....we heard from our friends last night. Late last night, they finally had power and phone service restored. They were safe as was their house, although I think it was a long few days for them. She has pictures and more about their experience and promises to share them...Glad they are all ok.

We also were able to connect with our other friends on the Burin Peninsula. They, along with their home, fared very well. Their Peninsula however, is disconnected from the rest of the province due to the road being washed completely out. There is now no milk, eggs, fresh vegetables, gasoline etc. there. To top it off, another bridge on that peninsula has now been declared unsafe and they're getting another 25 mms of rain there today. Not really what they need there today.

Sending Help

Our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, viewed a couple of the most devastated areas today.

"I have seen flooding, but I have never seen anything like this," he said. "I have never seen damage like this in Canada. Where we were standing at one point the water would have been over our heads here." Prime Minister, Stephen Harper Story found here

The Canadian government is deploying the military to help with the hardest hit areas: story here

We still have not heard from our friends on Random Island. We know their area was hit very hard. Pictures and stories are just starting to come out. Apparently, today a boat was able to get there with some supplies. Katie and Brad...we're thinking of you and hope you are ok. One story about Random Island found here.

Igor Totals

Environment Canada issued an updated special weather statement for Newfoundland and Labrador. It looks like here in Pouch Cove, we received 142 mms of rain and the wind speed was 147 km/h.

Not sure how long these links will stay active but here they are just the same

Statement found here

On another note, Random Island appears to be one of the worst hit areas on the island. Story and picture here This is awful, these people appear (and I say appear because up until now, I've been unable to find out any information) to be stranded here. We have friends there and have not been able to make any kind of contact with them. I can only hope they are all ok. By the sounds of this report, it appears the province will finally get to them.

Look at this house

Some more pictures here (scroll down the blue bar and then click on the white arrow)

There are still people without power here. There are still communities that are totally cut off....food, fuel and other supplies cannot get in. Hopefully, the governments will move quickly to send aid, restore roads and get these communities reconnected. It's been a long three days and each day seems to get worse as new pictures of the devastation come to light.

Experiencing Hurricane Igor first hand

I don't even have the words to describe it that would do it proper justice. It was frightening, humbling and exhausting.

As I mentioned before, the rain and winds started Monday....long before Igor was anywhere near NL.

Then it got worse.

Many communities declared states of emergency. Many communities are cut off and not accessible because roads/bridges are washed away. Power can't be restored in these areas because of this. Parts of the Trans Canada Highway are closed. The highest reports I have seen, have the top wind speed at 172 kms/hr and the most rainfall at 239 cms.

I've never seen trees bend like they did. We could feel our whole house shake with every gust of wind. Jake was sure we were going to die. We lost power around 3 in the afternoon, so we sat in the basement, gathered around my clock radio, listening to the latest news and updates. With almost every gust of wind, I expected to hear or see part of our roof lift off. Thankfully, we had no damage here. Many others in our province were not so fortunate. We are concerned for friends of ours...we know their area was hit hard....but we're unable to contact them.

I took pictures...but again they did not even begin to do justice. Here are a couple of links, some with pictures (not my pictures but submitted by others).

Statement from Environment Canada with wind speeds and
rainfalls: Found here


Some pictures from CBC here although you have to scroll down to see them

CBC news story here

Igor Update...

Not sure how long we'll have power for...it would be nice if it didn't go out at all. The lights have been flickering a bit, so it's anybody's call right now.

At last check, Igor is forecasted to be a category 1 hurricane when it passes by us tomorrow. The eye is not forecasted to hit Newfoundland directly, but we're still looking at wind gusts of 120 kms/hr and rain of 150 - 200 mms (6 - 8 inches). I cannot imagine what it would be like to have a direct hit of a hurricane.

For now, it's raining and raining hard. I can hear the wind and every once in awhile it gets stronger which causes the rain to hit the windows harder. I'm probably not gonna get much sleep tonight lol.

Anyway...I'll keep you all posted as I can. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.

Preparing for Igor

It seems as if hurricane Igor is on his way to Newfoundland and Labrador. I was first made aware of his impending visit yesterday and have been watching various weather reports and the latest available tracking information.

Depending on the source, we're in for anywhere between 50 and 150 mms of rain and wind gusts of up to 150 kms. Other sources are saying winds of 90 kms...which is better than 150 kms....but still too high for my liking.

We're battening down the hatches...and Larry is out doing this as I type. Tyler has gone to town and will fill our water jugs on the way back (we have to get our drinking water from there anyway). Everything that could be blown around, such as the BBQ, smaller pieces of wood, lawn decorations, plants etc. are being moved inside the shed. Larry is checking the drain ditches and removing any debris and/or grown up grass. The firewood boxes inside are full.

Then there is the usual for inside: batteries, wind up flashlights, candles and matches. I should probably charge the cell phone (I realize that service could also be affected but just in case). The vehicles are full of gas, as are the gas cans.

It's not supposed to hit until Tuesday...bur the winds here have already started to pick up.

Here are some various sites I've been following (click on link):

Environment Canada -- Hurricane Tracking Information

Storm Pulse

The Weather Network

National Hurricane Center

Storm Tracker


GET LOST IGOR -- YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!!


I will keep you posted.....