A winter storm in Newfoundland and Labrador has resulted in localized flooding and has left thousands without power as massive waves continue to slam the coastline.
Ian Gillies, reached over the phone from Brigus South—a community along the coast about 60 kilometres south of St. John’s—says he’s blown away by the rough waters and pounding waves.
“We’ve been here about 14 years and this is by far the highest surf we’ve seen,” he said in an interview Sunday.
“The waves crashed over the breakwater. And an island where normally people walk out to, that I would say is 20 or 30 feet above sea level, it had waves crashing over that as well.”
Large rocks are being swept on to land, covering some roadways.
“The plows that are normally doing snow, they’re pushing rocks off the streets,” Gillies said.
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He said at this stage it’s hard to tell what kind of damage has been done in the area, but he expects it’ll become clear in the next couple of days.
Pictures and videos on social media show what appears to be flooding in the St. John’s area, wind damage to the facade of a downtown pub, debris and rocks that have been washed up on land and waves pounding the coastline.
As of Sunday afternoon, more than 9,300 Newfoundland Power customers were in the dark.
Environment Canada has issued weather warnings for the majority of Newfoundland and parts of Labrador, with messy weather forecast through the day into Monday morning.
Western Newfoundland is expected to see around 10 centimetres of snow along with 80 kilometre-an-hour winds, which could result in poor driving conditions and low visibility on roads.
Similarly, poor visibility is expected in the area surrounding Port aux Basques, where up to 15 centimetres of snow is expected along with 100 kilometre-an-hour winds.
In the St. John’s area, the weather agency is calling for rainfall between 20 and 40 millimetres which could result in localized flooding in low-lying areas.
In eastern and northeastern Newfoundland, Environment Canada is warning of wind gusts between 90 and 120 kilometres an hour, which the weather agency warns could cause damage to roof shingles and windows.
