How long did hurricane igor last

Igor was still a hurricane the next day as it tracked just offshore of the Avalon Peninsula but was soon to become a post-tropical storm. Initially, models had Igor bypassing Canada. However, as the storm moved further north, it failed to steer as far east as expected. Hurricane-force winds ripped across eastern Newfoundland with a savagery that forced 22 flooded and wind-battered towns to declare states of emergency.

Over communities became isolated when swollen rivers washed away the only roads into town and all connecting bridges. The complex weather system, with bands of heavy rain, had a huge circulation and reach. Rainfall records were set in several places. The highest was at St. Lawrence, on the Burin Peninsula, where an unprecedented mm drenched the community in about 20 hours.

Many other stations reported in excess of mm, breaking century-old records. In addition to taking out power for 70, hydro customers, water flowed everywhere, overwhelming culverts, filling basements, destroying homes, wharfs and boats, and eroding road beds.

The worst of the rainfall from Igor missed St. In countless communities, boil water advisories were in place and food and fuel ran short. Heavy rain turned roads into rivers and tore out chunks of asphalt. Washouts closed the Trans-Canada Highway and the main access roads to the Bonavista and Burin peninsulas for several days where towns and outports were the hardest hit. Some lost their homes entirely.

It was then premier Danny Williams who was at the helm of the province and tasked with responding to the storm's fallout. We are prepared to throw all resources at this as soon as we're in a position to do so," Williams said at the time, as isolated community numbers and states of emergency began to grow. Then prime minister Stephen Harper also made the trip to the island to assess the damage first-hand. Hundreds of military troops later landed in the province to aid in cleanup, rebuild roads and issue supplies to residents who were struggling in the aftermath.

A decade later the province would need a similar response from Canadian Armed Forces members during Snowmageddon, a record-breaking blizzard in January that gripped much of the province's east coast for eight days under varying states of emergency and even longer until the snow began to melt away.

During the Igor response, military members doled out 95, litres of fuel, 60, litres of water, and 74, kilograms of food. Maxine King and her husband, Gord King, of St. Jones Within, a small community near Clarenville, had to get creative in finding ways to get out of their community.

The day after Igor hit, the couple was scheduled to fly from St. However, with the main road washed out and no direct way to the Trans-Canada Highway, that proved to be a difficult task. IIt was trains, planes and automobiles, but instead of trains, it was a boat. But we managed to get there. With luggage in hand, the couple walked across rocks on a small section of washed-out road, and got a friend to pick them up on the other side in a vehicle and take them to another part of town.

But we managed to get there to the airport and to Alberta. Start your Membership Now. Your home for the news shaping Canada's East Coast. Close Search. Subscribe now Sign in My Account Log out. SaltWire Today: Halifax. Housing crisis in Nova Scotia.