‘Worst is over’ for Terrace and Kitimat after massive blizzard

WATCH: Thousands of residents along the north coast are digging out after a major snow storm walloped the region. Julia Foy reports.

After two days of intense snowfall, a blizzard unlike anything the North Coast had seen in years came to an end this morning, but several hundred people will be in the dark for at least another night.

Approximately 168 centimetres of snow fell in Kitimat and 159 centimetres in Terrace from 4 p.m Thursday to 4 a.m. Saturday.

“Thankfully, the worst is over,” says David Jones with Environment Canada.

“The area from Terrace down to Kitimat, and over to a small community called Tahtsa Lake might be called the Bermuda triangle of snowfall in B.C. That’s a place where every now and then, we get an incredible one or two day snowfall where cars disappears.”

“It has the perfect ingredients…it’s the pineapple express, plus cold arctic air, that converges right in that area. That’s where all the one-day snowfall records in Canada are held.”

WATCH: Aerial footage of this week’s blizzard from Kitimat

The heavy snowfall just fell short of breaking 24-hour records, as 109 cm fell in Kitimat over 24 hours and the previous record was 112.3 centimetres on Feb. 18, 1972, according to Environment Canada.

“It’s not a record, but it’s still very significant,” said Andre Besson, a meteorologist with the federal agency. “It will likely be in the top five.”

Virtually all businesses and roads were closed during the blizzard, but the cleanup began in earnest on Saturday, with private businesses and crews from across Canada joining forcing in clearing most major roads.

“The events of the past few days are of such significance that nobody could have been prepared to solve them in a matter of hours. It may take a few days before life is back to normal,” said Kitimat Mayor Phil Germuth in a statement. According to a district spokesperson, Friday’s efforts were slowed by both the additional snow and the work of clearing the streets of abandoned vehicles.

READ MORE: Sea to Sky rainstorm brings flooding to Pemberton, pond on Whistler Blackcomb

The city is asking people to not operate snowmobiles and other off-work vehicles on municipal streets and not to dump snow from their own property onto roads.

Over 7,000 customers were without power at the height of the storm, but that has been reduced substantially. Still, many areas won’t have power until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, including the First Nations community of Haisla.

“There’s power lines down and trees down…we keep hearing different times for it to be on again,” says Elaine Stewart with the Haisla Recreation Centre. She says the centre will be open to anyone without power and water.

“People are trickling in, but there are some people who can’t even get out of their house.”

Five of those people without power are Loretta Gray, an elder in the community, and her two children and two grandchildren.

“We’re hoping and praying that someone can come up and restore the power,” she says.

PHOTOS: Huge snowfall in Kitimat:

PHOTOS: Huge snowfall in Terrace:

WATCH: From cars in ditches, dogs struggling through snow banks and transformers exploding…our Global BC viewers show us what’s happening in their community.

– With files from The Canadian Press