Five years ago, Thanksgiving in the area was anything but normal. That was when a Thanksgiving snowstorm rocked Portage la Prairie and surrounding areas.
The storm was one for the ages on October 11, 2019. It knocked out trees and hydro lines, leaving many without power. 48,000 people were reported to be without power across the province. Locally, Manitoba Hydro said that all seven power sources to Portage were out. Some, just outside of the community, were without power for more than 10 days.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, wind speeds reached 90 to 101 kilometres per hour in some areas, accompanied by 30 to 75 centimetres of snow and 50 millimetres of rain. As a result, highways and some stores were forced to close for extended periods. On October 13, former Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister declared a provincial State of Emergency.
It has been 1,825 days since the storm, but the memories of the events that transpired that day and over the following weeks remain fresh.
Tough times were alleviated by the Herman Prior Activity Centre, which became a central hub for people across the region who needed shelter. Former Portage Mayor Irvine Ferris vividly recalls Mother Nature's powerful display.
"Friday afternoon, a weather system came through, and not long after, the Trans Canada was closed, and a lot of people were stranded. So, our fire department opened our emergency shelter as all the hotels were filled. The shelter was at Herman Prior, and I remember being down there. The guys were setting up cots and arranging food, and people were starting to come in off the highway, including a few that had to be rescued. Over the course of that night, I met a lot of people, including duck hunters from the US."
While the storm had given everything it had, it was the following morning when the consequences were felt.
"I got a call from our City Manager, Nathan Peto, about 5 a.m. saying that we'd lost power in many areas of the city, and we had to set up our emergency response unit at the RM office, where they had a generator."
Ferris recalls one of the biggest challenges was the lack of electricity for gas or diesel pumps. This meant that generators at the hospital, the shelter, and other areas of the city were at risk of going off the grid.
"We made arrangements to truck diesel in from Marquette. That was the closest place that had the power to keep the generators going. At the same time, our wastewater system was almost overwhelmed by the lack of electricity to keep the public stations going, so we communicated with people via social media and other ways to reduce water consumption."
He mentioned that the city would not have been able to survive such an event without everyone stepping up to the plate. Although no one wanted to deal with such a storm, it did highlight the importance of future planning from the city's perspective and the significance of individuals preparing for emergencies.
Stride Place provided showers and opportunities for those without running water to regroup. Angie Shindle, General Manager of Portage Regional Recreation Authority (PRRA), vividly remembers the storm and its aftermath.
"It was fantastic that we had power and were able to provide showers, plugins, coffee, and all of those kinds of things for the community, for all of those who were stranded and needed somewhere to go. Having this facility available was a positive for us."
Shindle says that everything the PRRA does is with the community in mind, and they were happy to step up in a way that wasn't in their normal programming.
"We were fortunate that we had a place for people to go and feel safe."
Gerrit Hofman lives outside Portage la Prairie and reflects on not having power for ten days following the storm.
"It will definitely go down in the history books for our family," he continued. "We had a generator running, just keeping the bare essentials going. It's so unheard of in this part of the country not to have power for more than a few days, so it was pretty scary."
Hofman describes those days without hydro services as simply challenging, especially with five kids at home at the time. On the positive side, he noted that the storm highlighted how much everyone cared for one another, as his neighbours in his area stepped up to help each other when needed.
"It was good to see the community come together and help each other out in such a time of need."
Meteorologist Natalie Hasell told PortageOnline that a large Colorado low began on Thursday, October 10, and kept many people busy well into the weekend, affecting Thanksgiving plans in the process.
"If anyone was around at the time, I'm sure this is imprinted in their minds as a horrible time to be in southern Manitoba. We still had a lot of leaves on the trees at the time. So, unlike a middle-of-winter kind of storm where there are no leaves here, the leaves acted as nets and captured a lot of the snow. Suddenly, a lot of the trees are dealing with a much greater load than they normally would. That led to many, many downed trees all across southern Manitoba."
She says that the way everything came together was rare and showcased many vulnerabilities across southern Manitoba.
"There have been other storms where we have seen greater amounts of precipitation or stronger winds. It's difficult to compare one storm to another. If we look at the storm with respect to the risk of impact, this is one of the worst storms we have seen. The impact was incredibly widespread."
Reading this article may bring up difficult memories or trigger post-traumatic stress disorder for some. However, we can all be grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend because the weather forecast predicts a mild stretch of days, unlike what happened in 2019.