Newfoundland slogs toward Igor recovery

The Canadian Forces have a comfortingmessage for parts of Newfoundland torn apart by Hurricane Igor last Tuesday: Help is on the way.

That help can't come quickly enough for Bonavista Peninsula communities like Trouty, which is still cut in half by a fast-flowing river of water. During the storm, the water moved fast enough to lift an entire house with a family inside and move it, CBC reporter Lee Pitts says.

Everyone inside was OK, but after getting his family out, the owner of the house had to leap into the water and swim away from the moving house.

Canadian soldiers fanned out from Clarenville on Sunday, some getting flowninto the more damaged communities, but others quickly hit a snag. The damage in places like Trouty, was so bad that military bridge building equipment couldn't be moved to where it was needed.

The troops now willhave to wait for government crews to repair the roadways enough that they can begin building temporary bridges.

"Today we're still in the process of evaluating how we're going to proceed," said Lt. Ian MacIntyre. "The plan is to go back and see how we can best accommodate these people."

Other efforts going well

During a Sunday press conference, Tom Hedderson, Newfoundland and Labrador's minister of transportation and works, said damaged infrastructure like shipping docks is hampering hisgovernment's relief efforts as well.

The province is making significant progress, hesaid, but the "issues are changing as we speak."

Hedderson said the Human Resources, Labour and Employment Ministry received 700 calls for assistance during the last 48 hours, mainly about low supplies of food and fuel.

Hesaid Sea King helicopters delivered aid to communities that were isolatedby hurricane damage. King's Cove, Knight's Cove, Stock Cove and Keels all had supplies dropped in by helicopter.

Government ferries also managed to get aid like fresh groceries into the Marystown area of the Burin Peninsula.

Despite the positives, Hedderson said, recovery fromHurricane Igor is "still far away."

Damage on land,sea

Chris Hansford, a paramedic on Random Island, said the road damage is even more extensive than it seems.

"The pictures you're seeing and what you see on TV and things are the big, major destructive spots," Hansford said.

"But what you don't see is miles and miles and miles of road where both sides have rotted away and you can actually see both sides of the pavement, on the shoulders, just falling off."

The Canadian Coast Guard is even warning those taking part in the recreational food fishery to be careful as Igor has washed trees and building materials into the ocean that may be dangerous for small boats.