GAMBO, N.L. – Damaging winds and pounding surf that washed away part of a street in a small northeastern town in Newfoundland on Sunday triggered a state of emergency in the coastal community.
Rick Ralph, a lifelong resident of Gambo, said the massive waves and heavy wind were unlike anything he’s seen before. The ocean washed over the road in front of his house, which is about nine metres away from the water, and covered his front lawn in seaweed.
“As soon as the sun started to come up (Sunday) the water started to surge, and we watched the road wash away,” he said in an interview Monday, adding that in just a few hours a part of the road was “totally gone.”
Ralph, 49, and his wife Colleen have been in their home for 32 years, and this weekend’s storm proved to be the most destructive. “We’ve gone through Hurricane Igor and other hurricanes, and we’ve never seen the damage that we have with the damage to that road,” Colleen Ralph said.
“It was a lot more fierce and fast than we’ve seen, the water was just the highest we’ve ever seen.”
Rick Ralph estimates the ferocious surf eroded about five metres of land in front of their home. The couple said they feel lucky the storm wasn’t worse and that no one was injured. Their house sustained wind damage to the roof and siding, and gusts uprooted trees on the property.
“I had large trees blown down. Trees I planted myself when I was 17 or 18 years old,” he said.
In response to the storm, the town of Gambo declared a state of emergency Sunday, and warned residents of a temporary power outage impacting the fire department’s pager system; it was up and running again in a matter of hours.
The town of Gambo, whose population in 2021 was roughly 1,800 people, also issued a statement on social media advising that Bayview Road, the partially washed away street in front of the Ralphs’ home, had been reduced to one-lane traffic. The statement asked that anyone who does not live on the street avoid the area.
Gambo’s mayor and members of council contacted by The Canadian Press did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 6, 2025.
— By Lyndsay Armstrong in Halifax
