Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
In the last week of April, the Canadian Ice Service recorded the lowest amount of sea ice in Labrador in its history of record-keeping, which dates back 50 years. The coast of northern Labrador is currently down to about 14 per cent of its ice cover, according to the CIS, a contrast to the average ice cover for this time of year of about 35 per cent.
Town crews in Happy-Valley Goose Bay are working to deal with flooding after the area was blasted with snow, followed by warming temperatures and 28 hours of freezing rain over the weekend. About 17 cm of snow fell on Friday, followed quickly by freezing rain that lasted through Sunday before switching to rain. It took down trees, had Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro crews working to remove ice buildup on power lines, and forced the town to issue what it calls an urgent public safety advisory, as flood waters pooled on streets in town, and started eating away at some of the gravel roads. "There's no doubt that this year's flooding is probably the worst I've seen," Happy Valley-Goose Bay mayor Wally Andersen told The St. John's Morning Show.
