Snowstorm blankets HRM
Posted Jan 17, 2013 06:44:07 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Haligonians are out shovelling their driveways and brushing off their cars this morning after a typical January snowstorm blanketed the region.
News 95.7 meteorologist Richard Zurawski said the storm behaved as predicted, with snow starting Wednesday afternoon and ending just after midnight. Between 10 and 15 centimetres of fell around the region.
Heavy snowfall during the evening commute snarled traffic for hours throughout Halifax Regional Municipality, and the city had the overnight winter parking ban in effect.
RCMP said once the rush was over, the number of crashes reduced.
“(For) the snow and the road conditions, we had a very low number of crashes,” Sgt. Jeff West told News 95.7. “It was all basically people…slid off the road, nothing serious. We had no serious injuries and no property damage last evening.”
While the storm finished after midnight, some streets remained snow-packed in the early morning. Police are urging drivers to give themselves extra time during the morning commute.
“Slow down and just take that little extra time to get to where you need to go,” said Sgt. West. “The roads, they’re passable, but as long as we take care with our winter driving then we should be able to get from home to work without too many problems.”
HRM Winter Works crews started salting the streets Wednesday morning to prepare for the snowfall, and plows have been on the streets since the snow started in the afternoon.
Superintendent Gord Hayward said sometimes some streets do get missed.
“At anytime with the number of people involved with it, with shift changes and what not, there just may be a communication error between a couple of supervisors and a couple of operators, and a street could be missed.”
He said it is incumbent upon residents to call HRM’s 311 call centre if they don’t like the way their streets have been plowed.
Unless it’s an emergency, plows need 12 hours to plow Priority 1 streets and 24 hours to plow Priority 2 streets.
Rural school bus routes affected
All schools in the region are open this morning, although Annapolis Valley Regional School Board said bus drivers in Hants West would be using their discretion on side roads.
Buses are travelling on paved roads only in the South Shore district.
