FREEZING RAIN TAKES TOLL
Icy weather cancels buses, classes
It’s a cold, hard world sometimes. As forecasted, Windsor-Essex was hit with freezing rain early Tuesday, complicating all morning travel with a thick coating of ice. From vehicles to pedestrians, anyone trying to get anywhere found themselves having to deal with treacherous slipperiness. Sidewalks and parking lots became skating rinks, and people adopting penguin stances were a common sight.
Although Windsor’s main routes were pre-salted by city services on Monday, many roadways remained affected and motorists were urged to exercise caution.
All school buses in the city and county were cancelled for the entire day, for both the public and Catholic boards — although the schools themselves remained open.
St. Clair College cancelled all classes before noon on both its Windsor and Chatham campuses. University of Windsor classes were held as usual, much to the chagrin of many students. The U of W was one of the few universities in southern Ontario not to cancel classes — resulting in criticism that the institution wasn’t taking into account student safety.
An online petition started by student Eric Yeung complained that the university hadn’t fully cleared its walkways, creating “an incredible hazard to students and faculty.”
All flights scheduled to arrive and depart from Windsor International Airport before 2 p.m. were cancelled.
The icy conditions also resulted in power outages across the city. South Windsor was heavily affected in the morning, but there were longer-lasting situations in Riverside and Pillette Road neighbourhoods — with more than 1,000 customers in each area experiencing lack of power at various times. Dozens of residences in Riverside and Pillette were still dealing with outages as late as 3 p.m. Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) advised shoreline dwellers to beware of lake ice being pushed onshore and lake spray exacerbating an already slippery situation. According to ERCA, the freeze/thaw conditions the region has been experiencing have led to problems such as ponding, ice blockages and variable water depths. “Flowing water and standing water can be extremely hazardous. Any remaining ice cover on the waterways will be unstable and dangerous,” ERCA said in a release. Environment Canada’s freezing rain warning for Windsor-Essex — first issued Monday morning — continued into Tuesday morning, but was lifted at 1 p.m.
By the afternoon, the precipitation had become normal rain. Rain and flurries have been predicted for the rest of the week and into the weekend.