Here is a brief summary of the snow storm we had in Victoria
Last week we had a SNOW emergency . Next week we begin the flower count !
Subject: Snow Emergency In Victoria
A Chronology:
5:35 p.m. Environment Canada predicts two to five centimetres of snow
will fall on Victoria within a 24-hour period. Television weatherman reads
the forecast on-air, turns white and faints.
5:40 p.m.
Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe issues immediate appeal for federal assistance.
Prime Minister Paul Martin promises to send in the army.
8:45 p.m.
Victorians begin queuing at tire stores, leaving vehicles in line
overnight to be first served in morning.
10:15 p.m.
It turns out B.C.'s last army base, CFB Chilliwack, closed in 1998.
Martin promises to send in Navy instead.
10:20 p.m.!
Navy announces ship deployment to San Diego and Hawaii for "security
reasons." Conservative Leader Stephen Harper suggests Prime Minister call
Quebec advertising agencies to shovel the
snow, "since that's where the Liberals have spent all our money anyway."
6:22 a.m.
Temperature plunges. Word spreads that a man has found ice on his
windscreen. Curious neighbours gather to watch him scrape it off with
credit card. One motorist, a former Albertan, claims use of mysterious
"defrost" switch on dashboard can aid in process.
8:15 a.m.
Terrified downtown skateboarders lose toques to menacing mob of balding,
middle-aged men. "We tried to run," they say, "but these stupid
baggy-assed pants made us fall down."
9:30 a.m.
Hardware stores sell both of their snow shovels. Islanders begin
cobbling together implements made from kayak paddles, umbrellas, plywood,
cookie sheets, boogie boards and heavy leather sandals.
10 a.m.
Golfers switch to orange balls. Cricket players, anxious not to repeat
the ugly "snow blower incident" of the Blizzard of '96, switch to orange
uniforms.
12 Noon.
Word of impending West Coast snowfall tops newscasts across Canada.
Saskatoon hospitals report epidemic of sprained wrists related to viewers
high-fiving one another.
1:20 p.m.
Elementary schools call in grief counsellors. Grief counsellors refuse
to go, citing lack of snow tires.
2:30 p.m.
Rush hour begins early as office workers come down with mysterious
illness and bolt for home. Usual traffic snarl is compounded by large
number of four-wheel-drives abandoned by side of road.
2:50 p.m.
Airplanes are grounded and ferries docked. No travel link between
Vancouver Island and rest of the world. Victoria Times-Colonist headline:
"Mainland Cut Off From Civilisation."
3:22 p.m.
Prime Minister Martin announces Canada's DART rapid-response team can
be on the ground within six months. "We can't leave Victoria to deal with
225 centimetres of snow on its own," he tells Mayor Lowe. "Um, that's
two-to-five centimetres, not two-two-five," replies the mayor. The prime
minister curses and hangs up.
3:33 p.m.
Provincial government responds to crisis by installing slot machines in
homeless shelters.
4:10 p.m.
At behest of Provincial Emergency Program, authorities begin adding
Prozac to drinking water.
4:15 p.m. Fears of food shortage lead to alarming scenes of violence and
looting. Grocery shoppers riot across the city, except in affluent Oak
Bay area, where residents hire caterers to do rioting for them.
4:30 p.m. Bracing for the arrival of snow, the city is gripped by an
eerie stillness reminiscent of Baghdad on the eve of the invasion.
Searchlights
comb darkening sky for first signs of precipitation.
4:48 p.m.
Panic ripples across region as word comes in that first flakes have
fallen. False alarm. "Flakes" turn out to be nothing more than pollen
spores released by early blossoms . An uneasy calm returns to city.
5:40 p.m. Weatherman, shaking uncontrollably, tells viewers that snow
warning has been extended. This weather pattern could go on for days.
Mercury plummets to 'Calgary-in-August' levels. Martial law is declared.
Victoria-area politicians announce plans to establish emergency command
centre aboard HMCS Regina once it reaches Oahu.....
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