Monster Storm, The Day My City Disappeared ⛄
The Christmas day storm that just passed here in Nova Scotia saw 160,000 homes lose power, it got me to thinking about the the worst storm I can remember in our region.
On February 18th and 19th, 2004, a Nor Easter named "White Juan" battered Canada's east coast. It brought with it 120 km an hour winds and just about 100 cm of snow.
The region was absolutely blanketed forcing the province to declare a state of emergency.
Officials also imposed a curfue so cars and pedestrians would be out of the way to let cleanup crews deal with the mess.
The entire city was shut down, noone could get to work and alot of people had to dig just to get out of their homes.
In this country were used to snow, but this was alot for us to even handle. Some people didn't lose their sense of humor however..
The city centre turned into a ski hill. This is downtown Halifax..
Tunnels were dug to allow people to get around. What made matters worse was that the winds created the most massive drifts I've ever experienced. Sidewalks had snow banks taller than myself at 6'2"
Everyone's cars were buried, matter of fact everything was buried under snow! People had to shovel off their rooves fearing they would cave in due to the weight.
It was the first storm in our province's history that we had to ask Ottawa for assistance, the province was granted $3.6 million to help with the cleanup costs.
One cool thing was that people were helping eachother dig out and now we can all tell stories about where we were and what we saw during a monumental storm. I guess that's kind of cool?
*Photos courtesy of thechronicleherald
Thanks for reading!
while we don't get quite as much snow here in Onterrible, I do recall one christmas 20 some years ago where we got about a meter of snow in one dump on christmas eve. The snow was super light and fluffy so people were driving through it carefully. The funniest part about it was that small cars left tunneling trails like bugs bunny.
Onterrible lol Cars weren't driving through this stuff, they were buried underneath it 😨
Wow! some amazing photos. It is astounding what mother nature can throw at us and yet we still survive.
Yep, just have to buckle down and deal with it. Mother Nature rules
Yes so very true. We have gotten up to 22" but nothing like what you got whalloped with there. Cool way to keep drink cold though. : )
Oh wow! I've seen snow piled this high in neighborhoods in steamboat springs, Colorado. But the worst storm I've ever experienced was about 3ft of snow in Denver, 2002. I had just moved there for college from a place with no snow. It was a huge shock to see that much snow all at once. But I fell in love with it that day. 😍
Yeah it's a shock if you're not used to it. I don't enjoy winter but I deal with it lol. Thx for reading!
That is impressive! In The Netherlands it snows a bit, couple of cm, ones in about 4 years.
I would love to live in NS.
It was pretty impressive. A once in a lifetime storm, I hope..
So this is very special for you too?
How is winter normally in NS?
Well we always get alot of snow but not this much so fast. Infact this year we never had any snow until a week ago. Right now there's none on the ground 👍😎 it's cold tho -4 C today
That's ok. I could manage that. ;-)
Keep us posted!
wow, unfortunately I have never seen snow directly
You should come to Canada! In the weather we could build a snowman ⛄
if i already have sbd that much maybe i will go there 😀
I love these types of natural photography .. very nice
Holy moly that was a bad storm. Glad you and your family made it through safe.
Thx @kph138 for checking out my post!
It was really a Tragedy that year but heard in 2015 the federal government approved to pay Nova Scotia $630,000 for emergency disaster relief related to flooding in December 2014.
Also heard that Nova Scotia will not receive the federal money until the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal finishes repairs on roads, bridges and culverts damaged by the storm — and the federal government audits the claim.
I hope the approved fund has been released and roads and other facilities has been restored.
Are u nova Scotian my friend?
I knew about the flood in 2004! I studied Geography and keep myself updated especially on environmental issues.
Oh wow and I thought the snow we got was bad. Luckily I've never had to deal with snow like this.
Thanks for checking out my post Shippie!
Wow! You guys really got dumped on lol! We got a fair amount here in Ontario but that's nothing compared to this.
We're doing really well so far this winter. Haven't had much and it hasn't stuck around. Jan and Feb will probably bring alot but I always hope not lol Thx for reading my Canadian friend!
Hopefully you will have shoveled out from this one before the next one... geesh! I was born in Cape Breton and lived there as a youngster and I do remember huge snowstorms like this one. Btw, I should be thanking you my Canadian friend. It's always a pleasure reading your posts @goldenarms :)