Over 200 travellers got caught in Sunday's blizzard conditions and were detoured into the town of Emerson to wait out the storm. Whiteout conditions forced RCMP to close Highway 75 from the U.S. border to Winnipeg.

“We probably have about 120 people, stranded  travellers, at the Emerson Community Complex simply because Highway 75 is closed due to near whiteout conditions,” explains Bill Spanger Municipal Emergency Coordinator with Emerson-Franklin. “There’s also between 60 and 70 stranded travellers occupying the hotel and restaurant in town, and the motel is all full.”

Spanger says Customs officers began diverting people into Emerson around 11 a.m. Sunday morning which worked out well as the community was celebrating its annual Winter Carnival. Travellers were able to chow down a pancake breakfast as part of a fundraising event.

“We have a group of 23 trained volunteers we trained a year ago, and I’ve enlisted some their help to come down so they get a feel for what it’s like during a storm sitting day,” notes Spanger. “It’s an experience for them as well, and we seem to have everything under control and it runs pretty smooth.”

Meanwhile, the busy truck traffic that can be seen every day along the Highway 75/I-29 corridor came to a screeching halt as close to a hundred semi trucks could be seen camped out at the Coop card lock gas station at Emerson.

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