Blizzard

Well we are in what's hopefully the tail end of what we've been told will be remembered as the Blizzard of 2007. It should have a more foreboding title though I think, like The Great Blizzard of 2007 or January 07: The Big Blizzard! We are apparently over the worst of it, but it's still blowing out there like crazy. I'm not sure how much snow has actually fallen, but a lot sure has been blowing around. There are now drifts in my yard that are 5 feet high!

It was already pretty windy when I woke the girls up for school this morning, and although the buses were not running, the school was still open, so I drove the girls the 6 blocks so they could spend the day with their town friends watching movies and playing in the gym. Since most of our teachers come in from the city the staff at the school was pretty bare. Mostly just TA's from town made it in, and the vice principal from a nearby village. By this afternoon though, the wind had picked up incredibly. Highways were closed and those that were open were not recommending travel. People were stranded in ditches all over and there were not enough police out that could even get to them. A lot of people spent the whole day in their vehicles just waiting for a rescue. Tow truck drivers were advised to stay off the roads too! I sent Chris to pick the girls up from school since I could not even see the houses across the street from our house the visibility was so bad and I was not comfortable driving. One hour later he arrived home with the girls. Yep, and hour to go 6 blocks there and back. They got stuck a few times and had to help unstick some other people so they could get through. I was getting pretty worried since Chris did not have the cell phone with him, so I was unsure if they were stuck or flipped over in the gully that runs through town. I was so thankful when I saw the van pull into the driveway. When Chris went to open the garage door it got caught by the wind and blew off one track, so he was outside fixing that for a while too. Poor guy was red, windburned and frozen by the time he made it back inside.

We're the lucky ones though, we're in our own house tonight. Many people who work in the city never made it home. They either got stuck somewhere on the highway or have to sleep in a hotel tonight. The hotels in the city are reporting that they are at full capacity, and that was already hours ago that was reported. According to the news there are over a hundred people stranded at Costco and that's where they'll be spending the night tonight. The vice principal and another teacher at the school here are spending the night at the school. They were offered numerous homes to stay at instead but opted to pull out the gym mats and to sleep in the gym where they can watch movies on the giant projector screen, lol.

Chris ended up leaving an hour or so ago to try to rescue some more people stranded in their cars on the highway. Unfortunately he only has the car, not the truck with 4x4, so he'll have to be incredibly careful not to end up stranded himself. Hopefully he can get some scared people home to their scared families. I know I worried after him being gone an hour this afternoon, so I can't imagine how some of the families are feeling of people who have been stuck in the cars all day. The blizzard has already claimed the lives of 2 people who were stranded in their car and tried to walk to the nearest house or town. It is just not nice at all out there.

For some pictures and videos of the blizzard you can go to: http://www.ckom.com/ but I am not sure how long they will have that link to news on the blizzard.