Labrador woman walks into raging blizzard to find help for her stranded family

The snow was deep, the blizzard was raging, and visibility was low. It was getting dark. They were stuck in the middle of nowhere, trapped in their car on the remote Trans-Labrador Highway. They were running out of gas. No one was coming to help.

Thinking of her brother with special needs in the car beside her, 19-year-old Jada Sampson decided to try and save her family by heading out into the storm on foot.

The car, full of five people, had left earlier that day to make the over 400-kilometre drive from Sampson's nan's house in Port Hope Simpson, along the isolated road connecting southern and central Labrador, to their home in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

The weather came in hard. It turned into a blizzard Sunday afternoon, eventually ending after dropping about 40 centimetres of snow in total.

Environment Canada had issued a snowfall warning for the area, but the province didn't close the road until well after the family started driving.

Sampson and her family had checked the conditions and the weather reports before leaving, and though there was snow and wind in the forecast, they didn't realize how bad the situation would be until they became stuck, in the middle of the storm, with no cell service and no hope of someone driving by.

They were on Route 10, about 55 kilometres from Happy Valley-Goose Bay. But the family thought they were a lot closer.

"I go to the gym a lot and I like to play a lot of sports, and I go for walks and runs all the time, so I figured if I just put on a pair of dad's rubbers that we had in the vehicle, and put on a couple sweaters and try to walk out so far to get cell service, then I could help," Sampson told CBC Radio's Labrador Morning.

"I walked for four hours in three feet of snow in the snowstorm and I made it 10 kilometres in four hours. That's how bad the storm was," she said.

She didn't know it at the time, but the emergency services app on her smartphone is what would end up saving her life. Sampson had been trying to connect with someone, but didn't think she was getting through.

She was.

The RCMP in Happy Valley-Goose Bay got a stranded motorist report and sent two officers in two separate vehicles into the storm. They hit the same dangerous road conditions as the Sampson family, and called in a local ground search and rescue team. That team then called Grey Rock Mining to ask for help with a snowplow.

The officers — who had also left their vehicles on foot — found Sampson about 45 kilometres from town, covered in snow.

Her muscles were freezing up, and she had lost all hope.

"For the last hour, like, it was in the dark and I was hallucinating really bad," she said. "In the trees I would see houses and almost, like, try to walk up to them and then they'd disappear.

"By the time the police officer came towards me with his flashlight I didn't even think he was real until I collapsed in his arms."

The officers used their own clothes to cover her up and get her back to their vehicle, where she waited for an ambulance, and then for crews to save her stranded family.

Both Sampson and RCMP Cpl. Jolene Garland laud the actions of the officers, the ground search and rescue team and Grey Rock for making the rescue possible.

Garland is also asking drivers to stay aware of road conditions, and to keep their vehicle stocked.

"Be prepared in the event you become stuck, that emergency responders and personnel may not be able to get to you — certainly may not be able to get to you in a timely manner," she said.

That includes things like a shovel in the trunk, food provisions, warm clothing, and a cell phone or other communication device.

If you do get stuck, Garland says, it's probably best to stay in the vehicle.

"You know, definitely a thought would be to — to leave the vehicle. But if the weather is adverse, visibility is low, other motorists may not see you and of course you're exposing yourself to even more frigid temperatures by being outside of a vehicle."

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