Blizzard leaves people in Iqaluit without city services, including water delivery

City officials in Iqaluit suspended all municipal services this weekend until further notice due to extreme weather conditions. (Photo by Matt Chan/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)

IQALUIT, Nunavut — City officials in Iqaluit suspended all municipal services this weekend until further notice due to extreme weather conditions.

The services, which include water that’s trucked into homes and waste management, have been on hold since Saturday in Nunavut’s capital.

Environment Canada issued a blizzard warning for the city due to northwesterly wind gusts up to 60 km/h that are causing blowing snow and reduced visibility, although that warning was ended later Sunday.

Frank Reardon, a resident of Iqaluit, said the sky began to clear before sunset on Sunday at 2:08 p.m. But he said the truck that was supposed to deliver water to his home on Friday never made it due to the bad weather.

Homes in the older part of the city where he lives aren’t served by water and sewer pipes, he explained.

“We’re in conservation mode now. No showers. Just using the minimum water,” Reardon said.

Reardon said the sewer truck hadn’t come either, although he wasn’t worried because his sewer tank is about twice the size of his water reservoir.

City officials said fire, ambulance and police services will still be provided in spite of the service suspension, unless it’s deemed absolutely unsafe or impossible.

But they said delays in emergency services should be expected.

Temperatures in Iqaluit were sitting at about -21 C on Sunday morning, with a wind chill of -37 C.

According to Reardon, the snow started on Friday afternoon but it was Friday night when it started to get really bad. He ventured outside to take some pictures Saturday, but said visibility was so poor his camera was useless.

His house is on pylons and he said the wind was so strong, his walls and floor shook and vibrated all Saturday night. A jar of hand cream that was on a shelf rattled until it fell to the floor.

“You’ve got to remember there’s not really much blocking wind, so when we get wind here it’s full-force coming right off the land down over the hill, so it’s pretty strong,” Reardon said.

“It’s hard to get to sleep. I actually had to end up putting earplugs in because I just couldn’t deal with the noise from the wind.”

Environment Canada predicted periods of light snow to continue through Sunday night. Monday’s forecast called for mostly clear skies, less wind and a high of -28 C.