| Comments | On January 17-18, a severe winter system (bomb cyclone, "snowmageddon") affected the northeast area of the Avalon Peninsula and Bell Island in Newfoundland, The communities of Mount Pearl, Paradise and St. John's were particularly impacted. This low pressure system created blizzard conditions for 18 hours with visibility of less than 200 m, winds of 160 km/hr, and a 8.7 m storm surge. The winter storm covered 1,136 km2 and affected 208,000 individuals. Mount Pearl, Paradise and St. John's recorded, 93 cm, 91 cm and 76 cm of snow in 28 hours, respectively. A State of Emergency was declared in St. John's as well as 11 other communities and a request for assistance was made to the Government of Canada. Approximately 380 Canadian Armed Forces members assisted in the efforts where the majority of tasks required shovelling assistance. The storm is estimated to have cost $17 million (CAD 2020) in insured losses. A secondary hazard created by this winter storm was snow avalanches and warnings where several homes in the Battery area of St. John's were evacuated. |