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April blizzard wreaks havoc on Manitoba air travellers, public transit users

Click to play video: 'Travel disrupted during storm in Winnipeg'
Travel disrupted during storm in Winnipeg
Air travel came to a standstill in Winnipeg as the airport was a ghost town with all flights cancelled to and from Winnipeg. Marek Tkach on the travel chaos the storm has caused – Apr 13, 2022

Getting to and from anywhere in Manitoba today has been a monumental challenge. And to make matters worse, conditions are only expected to get worse into the night.

“This morning the bus was drifting,” said Steven Tuomi, while waiting for the bus near the airport on Wednesday.

“It was very icy, very snowy — you know, lots of drifts.”

With all flights to and from Winnipeg cancelled on Wednesday, an empty YWG looked just about as strange as you imagine.

“All you see is security. No taxi cabs outside, which is usually packed. Yeah, it’s strange,” said Mike Jonkers.

Jonkers was supposed to be boarding a plane home to Grand Prairie, Alta., this morning. But instead, he gets to call the airport home for a little while longer.

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Mike Jonkers talking to Global News while waiting for his flight at YWG. Jordan Pearn / Global News

“Woke up at six o’clock, went to go and check in. And yeah, some lady come up to me and said all the flights have been cancelled,” he said.

“I’m like, oh my god, I’ve to sit here for two days!”

Passengers trapped due to the blizzard could be on their way sooner than expected.

An empty shot of the airport on Wednesday afternoon. Jordan Pearn / Global NEws

“Right now there’s a number of flights that are still in the schedule for tomorrow,” said the airport’s VP of communications, Tyler McAfee.

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“If anyone is travelling or planning to travel tomorrow, we’re really encouraging people to check with their airline first.”

The current infiltration of white stuff is affecting travel on the road in a similar fashion.

“We’re having some mild and moderate delays in transit,” said the city’s emergency management coordinator, Jay Shaw.

“We said that was going to happen and we know that any time we get this level of snow accumulation of what’s going to happen. But our transit operators have shown up, the buses are out there.”

And they’ll be out there tomorrow too, maybe just a little late.

Click to play video: 'Blast of high winds, blowing snow in Winnipeg as major snowstorm hits Manitoba'
Blast of high winds, blowing snow in Winnipeg as major snowstorm hits Manitoba

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