CELPIP Listening Part 4 Practice Test: A Town Shelters Stranded Travellers

NARRATOR: Residents of Wawa, Ontario, opened their homes and their community centre to nearly three hundred stranded motorists this week, after a ferocious snowstorm forced the closure of the Trans-Canada Highway. Officials shut a ninety-kilometre stretch on Tuesday afternoon when visibility deteriorated to virtually zero and two transport trucks jackknifed across both lanes. With the town's motels filled within an hour, the mayor declared a local emergency and converted the hockey arena into a temporary shelter. Volunteers set up cots borrowed from a nearby army reserve unit, while a local restaurant owner kept her kitchen open overnight, serving complimentary chili to anyone who walked through the door. Several families with young children were welcomed into private homes instead. Among the stranded was Gurpreet Sandhu, a long-haul driver from Winnipeg, who confessed he had initially dreaded being marooned in an unfamiliar town. Instead, he spent the evening playing cards with retirees and departed with a dozen new phone numbers. The highway reopened Thursday morning. Provincial authorities have since faced criticism for not issuing closure warnings earlier, which could have prevented many travellers from setting out at all. The mayor, however, insists the town would gladly do it again.