Drivers stranded on roadsides and in halls overnight as storm pummels Sask.
Sunday's snowstorm left people stranded in community halls and on roadsides overnight as thick slushy snow turned to ice on highways across southern Saskatchewan.
Roy Dupuis was driving from British Columbia back to Quebec in his Hyundai on Sunday and had no idea he was about to encounter Saskatchewan's first winter storm of the year.
Dupuis said the roads were covered in ice and so slick he could only drive 20 km/h. With semi trucks passing his small car, he decided it was too dangerous to continue.
His car doesn't have four wheel drive or winter tires, so Dupuis pulled off Highway 1 onto a side road west of Swift Current.
"It was pretty scary with no one around," Dupuis said.
"My cell service didn't work. At some point it was cold and I had to wake up every two hours to turn the car on and I was worried it would keep snowing."
Dupuis watched semis drive by and worried they might slide off the treacherous and hit his car, prompting him to move it back at one point.
"It was really dangerous on the highway. I didn't want anybody to drift in to me."
Dupuis slept intermittently, waking when the car's temperature dropped. He said he would start the car briefly to warm it up, but kept it off much of the night to preserve his half tank of fuel.
His only food was one bag of chips.
Environment and Climate Change Canada received reports of as much as 40 cm of snowfall in Moose Jaw, which was at the epicentre of road closures and power outages.
Much of Highway 1 from Swift Current to Regina remained closed Monday, with some sections opening in the afternoon.
The roads improved slightly Monday and by early afternoon Dupuis made it to Swift Current, where he planned to rent a hotel room and rest.
Krista Erickson checked the Highway Hotline before she left Moose Jaw with friends Sunday at about 10 a.m. CST, but it only listed "winter driving conditions" on that stretch of road, which didn't seem too serious, she said.
She was headed to Swift Current down Highway 1, right into the centre of the storm.
That trip, which would normally take about two hours, took 12.
Erickson said the weather started out OK, but got progressively worse. Traffic had slowed to about 20 km/h by the time she reached Parkbeg, about 50 kilometres west of Moose Jaw. The line of cars and semi trucks moving westward eventually stopped and sat still for seven hours.
She said a some farmers came and helped clear the road to get traffic moving.
"We were very happy to see them," Erickson said.
"The way that people had parked, both lanes were full of people. The farmers really had to do a lot of manoeuvring and ditch work."
The thick wet snow caused power outages Sunday across a wide area that included Lumsden, Assiniboia and Moose Jaw. Many of those customers were without power overnight.
SaskPower was still working to restore power to customers in Moose Jaw and surrounding areas including Caronport, Rouleau, Mortlach and Avonlea Monday morning.
When Sheila Taillon left Estevan Sunday, headed to Saskatoon, the roads were fine.
Conditions deteriorated quickly and by the time she was near the town of Bethune, about 50 kilometres northwest of Regina, she was in a line of traffic inching along at 15 km/h.
"When somebody was trying to pass, I was like, this is nuts," Taillon said.
"I just thought, I need to get off of this stretch of highway. It's dangerous."
Taillon pulled off Highway 11 into Bethune, where she sat in her car for several hours waiting out the storm.
Taillon heard from her daughter that the Bethune Community Centre was opening its doors to stranded travelers. She arrived to find the fire chief shoveling the centre's walk and the hall equipped with gym mats for sleeping, drinks and snacks.
"The mayor's wife dropped off muffins."
Taillon said four people slept overnight in the community centre.
"This was a nice reprieve from staying inside the vehicle."
