Bad weather forecast means busy morning
Sparks were flying in the City of Summerside’s municipal depot Monday morning. Chris Cole was busy welding a new carbide blade onto one of the municipality’s snowplow wings.
The blades are good for about two years of use, depending on how much they’re used, after which they need to be removed and replaced.
Cole wasn’t alone in the depot; several people busily went about their business, generally making preparations for the expected storm, which had at that time, failed to appear. On the opposite side of the workshop from Cole, Joe Pendergast was oiling some joints on one of the city’s newest plows.
“We don’t know how long we’ll be out there,” said Pendergast.
“You don’t want to break down in the middle of a storm.” The community’s snow-clearing equipment is generally kept in a ready-to-go status, said operations supervisor, Owen MacDonald, but the folks at the depot like to make a few extra precautions when a storm is incoming. “We’re doing our due diligence in getting ‘er done,” said MacDonald.
Greg Gaudet, director of municipal services for the city, said the department wasn’t expecting anything unusual from Monday’s storm, but they were keeping an eye on the forecast.
“It’s really the wind that drives the snow around and makes it hard to deal with. If the wind is heavy that can create some havoc,” said Gaudet.
“This is pretty standard operating procedure for us. I mean if we got through that one year where we had 15 feet of snow, I’m pretty sure we can get through anything.”