EARLY SNOW SLAMS CITY
Snow route parking ban declared as neighbouring cities offer plows to clear roads
A major October snowfall led to chaos on city streets Tuesday, with more than 250 collisions reported and dozens of Calgary Transit buses stuck.
The storm prompted the City of Calgary to activate its municipal emergency plan and call in reinforcements from neighbouring cities to help clear the roads.
Tom Sampson, chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, said Edmonton, Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Okotoks offered to send equipment and operators to help with snow-removal efforts. Officials with the City of Edmonton confirmed 30 plows and 60 crew members were being sent south.
“This is one of those rare occasions where only part of the province got walloped by the snow,” Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Tuesday.
“So, in fact, we are able to borrow some equipment from our neighbours and they’ve been very, very generous in helping us out.”
Calgary has also declared a snow route parking ban in an effort to clear city routes. The ban will take effect Wednesday at 10 a.m. Anyone parked on the routes could be ticketed or towed.
Parts of the city reported up to 40 cm of snow in a 12-hour period. The precipitation was expected to continue overnight, with another 5 to 10 cm forecast.
“All the forecasting models underestimated the amount of snow we got,” Sampson said. “It’s here and we’re dealing with it.”
Nenshi described the snowfall as “the worst kind of snow event,” with rain turning into snow and freezing conditions overnight, and with snow continuing to fall through the Tuesday morning rush hour.
Calgary police recorded a total of 267 collisions from 11 p.m. Monday to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, including 17 involving injuries.
Bill Biensch, the city’s roads maintenance manager, said the timing of the storm “made it very difficult for us to have the roads clear for rush hour.”
He added that although the city ’s roads staff typically switch over to winter mode on Oct. 15, crews were ready to respond overnight Monday to the incoming storm.
West of the city, the RCMP described the driving conditions as extremely poor.
On Tuesday morning, Highway 1 westbound at approximately Highway 22 was at a standstill, with vehicles scattered across the highway and in the ditch, Mounties said.
Airdrie RCMP said a 45-year-old man died following a two-vehicle collision on Highway 567 between Range Road 284 and 285 Tuesday afternoon.
Canmore Fire-Rescue said around 6 p.m. that Highway 1 westbound was closed at Highway 1x, with traffic at a standstill.
City officials said Tuesday afternoon that snowfall continued to pose a challenge for buses, particularly on hills and steep inclines.
Transit director Doug Morgan said the system was “challenged,” with about 80 buses stuck at one point Tuesday.
Around 20 teams, including staff from the Calgary Fire Department, were out assisting transit crews who needed help pushing immobile buses.
“It’s been sort of a whole city response,” Sampson said. “We had a tough start.”
The Calgary Emergency Operations Centre opened Tuesday in order to have a co-ordinated response to the storm, Nenshi said.
As snow continued to fall, road crews remained focused on clearing Priority 1 routes that handle the city’s largest traffic volumes, such as Glenmore, Sarcee and MacLeod trails.
Biensch said the city hopes to clear all snow route roadways affected by the parking ban in the next 72 hours.
Nenshi said that unlike the September snowstorm of 2014, city officials don’t believe there is significant damage to the tree canopy.