A rapid thaw of winter roads used to transport food, fuel and other supplies to remote communities in western Canada has stranded a number of trucks and drivers, police said Wednesday.

"We had a half-dozen truckers stuck in the mud. And one 52-year-old driver had to be airlifted out," Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Sergeant Tom Cooney told AFP by telephone from an outpost at Berens River, Manitoba.

"The fellow is diabetic," he said. "He managed to call his employer on a satellite phone to say, 'I don't feel well, I want food, I need help.'" And the employer informed the RCMP.

Other officials said drivers across Canada's far north face similar problems.

The temporary roads, created over frozen swamps, muskeg and even lakes, are used to truck in food, building materials, and fuel to heat homes, operate vehicles, boats and planes, as well as other supplies to more than 50,000 people in some 30 communities in Manitoba province.

The northern roads are normally open from late December to April.

But this year average temperatures four to nine degrees Celsius warmer than normal, according to Environment Canada, meant they were open for only five weeks in February and March.

The provincial government ordered the Manitoba road system -- which begins about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Winnipeg and branches out -- closed on March 9 after warm temperatures made maintaining the vital winter routes impossible.

Most of the stranded freight haulers were returning from delivering food and equipment to two communities on the shores of Island Lake, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Winnipeg, when they got stuck in ruts on the north and south sides of Wrong Lake.

"It's a real mess," Cooney said.

A state of emergency has been declared in at least two native communities that depend on goods arriving by the winter road system. And the Manitoba government has asked Ottawa for help to airlift in critical supplies.

"This is the first time we've had to close the roads this early," Cooney noted.

"Financially it will be very hard on these communities because they rely on the winter roads. The only alternative -- air freight -- is very expensive."

Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips told AFP the impact of warming has been felt throughout Canada's sub-Arctic this year. "It's not just Manitoba."

Coast to coast, it has been a warmer and drier winter, he said.

In southern regions, golfers and joggers are welcoming an early spring.

But warmer temperatures in the far north (up four to six degrees Celsius) and less snow this winter has been devastating for northern communities, Phillips said.

"Winter roads are their lifeline and the shipping season was way too short this year. It's an economic disaster for those communities," as well as for resource firms that were unable to get equipment and supplies to remote mine sites.

"Winters in Canada are different now," Phillips said. "Warmer weather, for example, is denying us the cold and the snow needed to build and maintain these ice roads."

Early in the shipping season, many trucks this year were only half-loaded in order to avoid sinking in the mud, increasing the cost of shipping.

For mining companies, it could mean millions of dollars more in transportation costs, and delays.