As dangerous driving conditions forced several main highways in southern Manitoba to close for most of Friday, residents in two small communities stepped up to provide shelter for dozens of stranded travellers.
“We’re friendly Manitoba. So if we didn’t open our doors, who would we be, right?” said Cheryl Stock, president of the Elie Community Centre.
The centre provided overnight shelter for about 20 people and two dogs who had been stranded Friday at a local coffee shop, after the Trans-Canada Highway was closed from Headingley to Portage la Prairie.
Blowing snow forced that highway and sections of at least three others in southern Manitoba to close down into Saturday morning.
By noon Saturday, all highways had reopened, except for a stretch of Highway 26 from Portage la Prairie to Highway 248, according to the Manitoba 511 road conditions website.
Stock put out a call to volunteers to set up a temporary shelter space in Elie — a community of around 700 people that’s on the Trans-Canada Highway, about 45 kilometres west of Winnipeg —after seeing a number of social media posts from people who got stuck by the highway closure.
An image from a provincial highway camera shows vehicles stopped on the Trans-Canada Highway near Oakville, Man., just before 3 p.m. on Friday. (Manitoba 511)
Some travellers had stopped for hours, while others had been travelling from out of province.
“We didn’t want to leave anyone behind. We would have opened another building if we needed it,” said Stock.
Within an hour of putting out the call for help, the community centre had enough beds, blankets and pillows for the travellers to spend the night, she said.
Around 10 volunteers helped organize the space. Even after everything was ready, residents kept lending supplies and donating food in case other drivers showed up.
“Everybody in all these small communities together makes this happen. It’s truly touching,” Stock said.
Most people left the community centre at sunrise on Saturday, while a few waited for the Trans-Canada Highway to reopen.
“We’ll be here for as long as people need us,” Stock said Saturday morning, prior to the highway’s reopening.
‘Moment of humanity’
RCMP said there were a number of collisions on the Trans-Canada in Manitoba on Friday, including two multi-vehicle crashes near Oakville, east of Portage la Prairie.
Shianne McKay says she’s grateful to have avoided being in one of those crashes. She was travelling with her son from Souris, in southwestern Manitoba, to Winnipeg for a hockey tournament, when low visibility started slowing traffic near Portage la Prairie.
“It was very scary, and there were a lot of portions where the road just completely disappeared. You just didn’t know what was in front of you or who was coming behind you,” McKay said.
“At some parts, it was becoming a whiteout situation, and then there were vehicles just flying by me.”
Shianne McKay and her son stayed in Oakville, Man., overnight amid dangerous driving conditions on Friday. (Submitted by Shianne McKay)
McKay stayed behind a gravel truck, which came to a stop just after noon on Friday. Not long after that, emergency vehicles began passing by and cars were towed.
McKay and her son were stuck on the highway for about two and a half hours, until RCMP escorted traffic to the Highway 13 intersection and on toward Oakville.
As they drove, McKay saw that the site of the crash that had stopped traffic was only about five minutes away.
“I’m so just thankful. I remember praying … for us to be safe and make it through this OK,” McKay said.
The Oakville Community Centre opened its doors to stranded travellers on Friday. (Submitted by Shianne McKay)
She and her son went to the community club in Oakville, which had opened its doors for travellers. Local residents set up the space with food, cots and even board games, McKay said.
The centre also opened the doors of the ice rink so the players from her son’s hockey team could practise.
“People were just outpouring support,” she said.
“A few hours in, everybody was mingling, talking … meeting people that you wouldn’t regularly meet in your day-to-day, just coming together in that moment of humanity.”
Eric DeLong, the Oakville Community Club’s president, told CBC about 75 people spent the night at the centre, sleeping on cots, mattresses or on the floor.
A group of volunteers took shifts overnight at the facility after town residents dropped off bedding supplies and food for the stranded travellers.
“As soon as people got the call, they came out in strong numbers to help,” he said.
About 75 people spent the night at the Oakville Community Centre on Friday, after part of the Trans-Canada Highway closed due to poor driving conditions. (Submitted by Eric DeLong)
The centre might have been the only place in town where residents could have stayed, DeLong said — there is a hotel in town, but it wouldn’t have been big enough to accommodate everyone.
“A lot of people would have probably ended up in their vehicles for the night,” he said.
McKay said the help from volunteers was crucial after a stressful day.
“The generosity that we’ve seen just even in the last 24 hours is just mind-blowing,” she said. “I’m just eternally grateful.”
