Friday, January 17, 2020 was exceptional, as it marked the single most intense storm ever recorded in the province. Upwards of 90 centimetres of snow was dumped on Eastern Newfoundland, accompanied by winds gusting, at times, to 160 kilometres an hour. A state of emergency (SOE) was declared by the Mayor of St. John’s, the first in over 35 years. It essentially shut everything down. Neighbouring communities followed suit, and life as we knew it was transformed for eight days. The silence was deafening at first — no planes, no ferries, no traffic — and then the cleanup started.