Severe blizzards in the northern regions of the province bringing high wind and heavy snowfall, are making the transportation of goods near impossible.
Mike Reimer is the owner and founder of Churchill Wild. Based out of Iles Des Chenes, they operate tourism lodges in northern Manitoba. He says this is an important time of year for them and these storms have been affecting them significantly.
"This is the time of the year that we're freighting, hauling stuff overland and shipping. Our goods have to go to Churchill by train which has been very very delayed the last few weeks, it hasn't run at all. So we're concerned that we might not get our goods into Churchill in time to get them over the ice to the lodges. That'll be building material and equipment that sort of thing. More than that the conditions on the coast as far as snow conditions are so horrendous right now we're not even sure if we can even move stuff over the ice and up the coast just because of the massive drifting and the horrendous snowfall that we've had there."
Reimer notes that earlier this month he lead a group of international guests on their Polar Bear Den Emergence Quest at their Nanuk lodge. The group flew out from Winnipeg on March fourth but were delayed in a hotel in Thompson for over a week due to the severe storm conditions. Reimer says they were able to fly out the following Saturday but had to make some adjustments to their landing strip and their aircraft.
Reimer adds the massive drifting makes the process of transporting goods take three to four times as long and is very hard on their equipment. He notes this a humbling experience and a good reminder of what mother nature can do.
"We'll just have to trim back our projects and some of our equipment won't get in that we need and we'll just carry on."
Tue, Apr 16, 1:00 PM
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