Subtitles section Play video
-
We begin in St. John's where the mayor has just declared a state of emergency. A
-
major blizzard is slamming the region and as you can see there's very little
-
visibility on the roads due to all that blowing snow, the forecast suggests these
-
treacherous conditions won't be letting up anytime soon the CBC's Kayla Hansell
-
is braving the outdoors for us today as she has been all morning she joins us
-
live from St. John's, Kayla thanks for being there for us what is the situation
-
there like right now? Hi John well as you said the mayor of St. John's has
-
declared a state of that of emergency, that state of emergency is in effect
-
immediately and until further notice and what that means is that all businesses
-
have been ordered to shut down all vehicles other than emergency vehicles
-
have been ordered off the roads so in that statement from the city of St.
-
John's they actually say no vehicles are permitted to use city streets, plows will
-
continue but otherwise the city of st. John's urging people stay home,
-
do not drive until this state of emergency has been lifted I mean you can
-
see the conditions it is a complete blizzard whiteout situation has been
-
progressively getting worse throughout the morning which is as it was forecast
-
to do. The snow is coming down very heavy very quickly, the wind has been
-
intensifying all morning long I mean it's just the kind that's hitting you in
-
the face as I'm here trying to speak to you you can
-
probably hear it's taking my breath away a little bit so that you know our
-
situation the CBC has also pulled all of its crews off the road so we're just
-
here at our hotel just outside of our hotel to bring you this story in the
-
safest way possible. Again the city is shut down, schools were closed, city buses
-
were pulled off the roads long before the state of emergency went into effect
-
government buildings also closed for the day, of course ferry service has been
-
stopped and flights grounded. Air Canada sent extra flights in last night to get
-
people out ahead of the storm but if you didn't manage to get out it looks like
-
we're gonna be here for a while officials really asking for patience
-
urging people to understand that this is not just this one very bad storm which
-
is very bad a nasty one even by
-
Newfoundland standards but that there have been multiple storms one on top of
-
another very recently which means they haven't been able to get ahead of the
-
snow clearing so this is gonna take some time certainly throughout the weekend
-
even after this weather stops which is supposed to continue into tomorrow at
-
least but really looking at at least Monday before this province is back up
-
and running John. Thanks for this Kayla CBC's Kayla Hansel in St. John's
-
Newfoundland well for more on how the city is coping we are joined now by a
-
man who's very busy and we appreciate his time today the mayor of St. John's
-
Danny Breen thanks for joining us sir, as Kayla was saying you've just declared a
-
state of emergency in your city, why did you do that?
-
well this is a very unique situation that we have we had a tremendous amount
-
of snow underground we had about 170 centimeters because we had back-to-back
-
storms and and snowfalls we weren't able to get the amount of removal and
-
pushback and widening of streets done that that we normally would have had
-
done in sidewalk clearing, so we have a situation with 70 centimeters of snow
-
coming it was just going to be it's going to have a tremendous cleanup and
-
the top of that the combination of a heavy snow and a the rate of snow
-
along with very high wind levels add a level of danger to this that we wanted
-
to make sure that we that we just were able to to keep the emergency routes
-
open, do as much plowing and clearing of sidewalks of streets that we could and
-
and be able to to clean up after the after the storm.
-
You mentioned the element of danger what is the message that you want your
-
residents to hear loud and clear with you imposing the state of emergency? We
-
want everybody to stay home, we want everybody to stay safe we if you have
-
neighbors that you know that may need some assistance reach out to them if you
-
can just to make sure everything is okay and we just want to be able to to to
-
weather the storms so to speak. The one of the things that the wind levels are
-
going to be increasing and with that there's always a concern for power
-
outages and those things so the city has our staff our necessary staff on standby
-
to deal with any of the further actions that may happen as a result of this
-
storm. Just to not put too fine a point on it but that person who says you know
-
what I just want to get some milk I just want to get some eggs I'm just going to
-
the store it's just around the corner what would you advise that person to do
-
who might be thinking of taking a calculated risk under these
-
circumstances? I would advise them to stay home because those uh the state of
-
emergency order is closing all businesses in the city so they they're
-
not going to be able to to go to the store they're not going to be able to go
-
out to to do any of those things additionally if they just decide that
-
they want to go out I would strongly recommend they stay at home, the winds
-
are going to be high the visibility is very poor is just better for everyone
-
and safer if people just stay at home and wait for the storm to
-
subside. Have you had a chance to gauge how people are feeling about all this,
-
what are you hearing from them and what are their concerns with this storm? Well
-
it's really it's you know it we're used to having snow or where we're not used
-
to having this much snow this early and where we're certainly not used to having
-
a combination of seventy centimeters of snow and very high winds so, people
-
understand they they understand what's what the what the challenge is there but
-
still there's going to be a very very significant cleanup not only for the
-
city but for private businesses and for private homeowners into the next few
-
days so this is this is a major storm and people are very concerned about it.
-
You say the next few days and I understand that the state of emergency
-
is in effect until further notice, how long do you think folks are going to
-
have to hunker down? I have no idea right now it depends when the storm subsides
-
and on how much snow is on the ground when
-
were when were completed and how we can get the city open again but we we will
-
have it in place until we're satisfied that we can return to normal operations
-
here. So worth emphasizing even though it may have stopped snowing in a day or two
-
it could be several more days as I understand what you're saying before
-
streets are safe for people to go out again. We are going to take whatever time
-
we need here to to make sure that the streets are opened and that we're able
-
to get back to normal operations. Mayor Breen I understand of course you're a
-
busy man these days thanks for taking the time out to talk to us, best of luck
-
with you and your community and we'll be staying in touch throughout the weekend.
-
Appreciate it thank you very much, okay all the best Mayor Danny Breen speaking
-
to us live from St. John's Newfoundland