Gravenhurst, Ont. remains under a state of emergency on Monday night after intense snow squalls battered parts of the province over the weekend.
The town in Muskoka, which is roughly 176 kilometres north of Toronto, was hit with around 140 centimetres of snow over the weekend and declared a state of emergency early Sunday. Officials said in the town’s latest update that the state of emergency is continuing because of the substantial snowfall and the prolonged closure of Highway 11.
Ontario Provincial Police say Highway 11 northbound at West Street has reopened, but southbound lanes from Highway 60 in Huntsville remain closed. The lanes were expected to reopen around 4 p.m. Monday but police now say they’ll stay closed until 10 p.m. Officials were forced to close nearly 100 kilometres of the roadway after the storm rendered it impassable. The town says all on-and-off ramps are cleared on Highway 11 except Luigi Road.
People are reminded, however, to stay home and not to travel by foot or car. Visitors are also asked to stay away for now.
“We are specifically requesting that people from outside the area not make their way to Gravenhurst,” the town said in the update. “This includes individuals wanting to check cottage properties. Additional vehicle traffic in the community is a hindrance to cleanup.”
WATCH | Gravenhurst mayor explains state of emergency:
Crews from Peel Region, Simcoe County and Vaughan have arrived and are helping to clear snow, the town said. Downed hydro lines, trees and abandoned vehicles, however, are continuing to hamper snow-clearing efforts. Officials said workers have cleared more than 50 trees that had fallen across roadways since Saturday.
“Work on this continues but it is slow. Getting tree removal resources to these locations takes time,” the town said.
Most municipal roads in Gravenhurst are open to single-lane traffic, while most and district roads in town are open to two-lane traffic, officials said.
‘Never seen anything like it’: mayor
The town says though it doesn’t have an exact count of how many hydro lines have fallen, there have been “dozens of instances” where hydro lines draped across roads have slowed snow removal. In each of those cases, utility workers have to be called in to remove them.
According to the town, the main Hydro One line coming into the south end of the community remains without power. There are downed lines throughout the community.
“It takes time. Navigating snow covered roads and obstacles is limiting response efforts,” the town said.
Gravenhurst Mayor Heidi Lorenz told CBC News on Monday seeing this much snowfall at once was a first.
“I’ve been here for 27 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it in such a short period of time,” Lorenz said.
“I can’t remember … in my life ever experiencing a highway closure of this magnitude.”
According to the town, Centennial Centre is open for people who need shelter but people are urged not to go there unless necessary.
“We are trying to avoid situations where people leave their home, get stuck en route to the centre, and then require assistance.”
Buried in snow
Dustin Soares and his family were one of the many trudging through snow with shovels in the region Monday. He and five other people have been staying at a cottage on Lake Muskoka built by his mother and father-in-law, as part of an annual get together around U.S. Thanksgiving.
Things were looking good in the middle of last week, he told CBC News in an interview — but everything “escalated pretty quickly” as the weekend approached.
“This is the first time we’ve been stuck in effectively 30 years, which just tells you the scope of how bad the storm really was up here,” he said.
Digging out has proven to be an endeavour for the group, who luckily have a generator and enough supplies to get by. But from their cottage to where their cars are is a kilometre, and from their cars to a roadway that’s plowed is another kilometre — which effectively left them two kilometres from a plowed road.
Gravenhurst was hit with around 140 centimetres of snow over the weekend and subsequently declared a state of emergency early Sunday. (Submitted by Dustin Soares)
The path from their cottage to their cars is all uphill, and the group’s snowmobile got stuck because of the depth of the snow. In the end, they ended up packing the snowmobile’s trailer to drag the group’s bags up to their cars, which they were able to clean off.
Then, he said Monday morning, the group was waiting for a plow to dig out their cars so they could again walk the kilometre back to them and hopefully drive home to other parts of the province.
People should always be cognizant of the sheer power the elements in the area can have, Soares said.
“Never underestimate it,” he said.
Town workers and contractors are working on cleanup, the town said in a statement, but people have been going beyond the hours they are safely allowed to work and have had to stop to rest at times.
Residents were urged not to leave candles or cooking areas unattended, to take breaks if shovelling snow and keep snow away from furnace vents. They were also urged to look out for their neighbours.
“Please check on your neighbours to make sure they are OK,” the town statement said. “We have heard several stories about people caring for each other and these are heartwarming and reflective of our great community. We have a long history of working together in the face of adversity. We will get through this situation.”
Lorenz says while this has been a difficult situation, it has also shown that Gravenhurst is a community with a “huge heart,” as so many people are pitching in to help out.
“I call it ‘the little town that could.’ Any time there’s a crisis, big or small, the community always seems to chip in,” she said. “People are just kind here. Everybody is checking on their neighbours.”
WATCH | Digging out in Muskoka:
The town says it is working with relief agencies to provide support for residents and is reminding people to keep snow away from furnace vents and avoid removing snow from roofs, unless you face “a critical situation.
“You risk injuring yourself and requiring medical assistance,” the update reads. “We might not be able to get to you.”
Intense snow squalls are now moving across parts of southwestern Ontario, forcing the Thames Valley District School Board in the London, Ont., region to close five schools after school bus service was cancelled.
London, Parkhill and Eastern Middlesex County are now under a snow squall warning, with up to 30 more centimetres of snow expected, especially near the shores of Lake Huron, according to Environment Canada. Snow squalls are forecast to return Monday night and end Tuesday morning.