The ice didn't seem to be going anywhere in N.L. in 1984
50 kilometres of ice surrounded the eastern side of Newfoundland a month into spring that year
It was almost May, but the ice wasn't going away.
In 1984, the eastern side of Newfoundland had ice still stretching 50 kilometres out from its shore, as April came to a close.
"The coastline is socked in with ice and shipping is largely at a standstill," the CBC's Barbara Yaffe told viewers on The National on April 26, 1984.
The ice's lingering presence was causing a series of problems, including for the people living in the offshore community of Little Bay Islands.
Not enough groceries or fuel
The buildup had prevented any sea traffic from reaching Little Bay Islands for 29 days and that lack of access meant the 300 people living there were running out of supplies.
"A shortage of groceries, a shortage of gasolines, home heating oil and in this week, of course, a shortage of diesel fuel," Mayor Gordon Weir told The National.
Instead, planes had been dropping off supplies, as that was the only option for Little Bay Islands at that time.
No immediate relief
Yaffe said the short-term weather forecast suggested the ice wasn't about to break apart just yet.
"The wind today is from the northeast and it's continuing to pack the ice around the coast and into the harbours," Yaffe said, standing in front of the ice-filled waters in St. John's — a city that had just been through a major ice storm two weeks earlier.
"Winds from the south that could break up the ice aren't expected until early next week."
But the ice-related problems would persist. Just four days later, Yaffe was again reporting on the impact of all of that ice, and the problems it caused on Bell Island where 5,000 people lived.
A 'ridiculous' situation
Bell Island had been hit by the same mid-April storm that downed power and telephone lines in St. John's, but island residents were still waiting for their phones to come back into service.
Due to all the ice, Bell Island also needed supplies to be flown in, but fog was preventing that from occurring on the last day of the month.
Deputy Mayor Gordon Skanes told CBC News the town could be facing "a major crisis" if the fog didn't clear within the next couple of days.
The people living through it all were tired of dealing with one problem after another.
"I think it's ridiculous. You got the fog in here, you had the power down, you got the ice in here," a man in a peaked cap told CBC News.
Others seemed to shrug their shoulders at what was going on.
"There's not much you can say about it, there's not much you can do about it," another man told CBC News. "But I guess everybody is fed up around here."
