Seaway residents digging out as winter storm hits the region
Residents along the Seaway awoke to a new layer of heavy, wet snow as the last winter storm slowly swept across eastern Ontario.
Environment Canada reported 10 cm of snow in Brockville and Kingston as of 1 p.m. and snow continued throughout the afternoon. From 4:00 p.m. there was between 12 and 15 cm of snow in some areas.
Doug Caughey of Kingston thanked his snowblower for doing most of the heavy lifting as he cleared his 100-foot driveway.
“The snow is heavy and the blower will take it out easier than my shoveling,” Caughey said. “We want to get it done before the mail girl comes so she can get off the street safely.”
For Brockville resident Larry Clarke, this was the third time he’d shoveled his driveway.
The snow is just too wet for his snow blower.
“Well, I’m just scared of breaking something,” he told CTV News. “It’s heavy and wet!”
For others, a shovel was the only tool they had.
“We need to move it before it freezes,” said Dan Roode, helping a neighbor clean her driveway.
“So you pay for last night with that warm fluffy feeling looking out the window, snow falling, Christmassy, you gotta get what you pay for!”
Ontario Provincial Police reported no major closures along highways in the area, with most calls relating to individual vehicles in the ditch.
According to OPP A/Sgt. Erin Cranton, officials, were dealing with a tractor trailer that crashed into a tractor trailer on Highway 401 near Reynolds Road, another in the ditch on Highway 7 in the 5 a.m. Thursday night around 5 a.m near Mississippi Mills and a crushed van near Oxford Station on Highway 416.
“[It’s]important that drivers slow down and drive according to weather conditions,” Cranton told CTV News. “And make sure all snow is properly cleared from their vehicles.
At Brockville Public Works, teams worked around the clock, clearing the city’s 146 kilometers of streets and 106 kilometers of sidewalks.
“We started this morning and I think the worst is behind us. It should be a little easier to move forward here,” said supervisor Yanick Beaudin.
“It’s definitely tough on the gear but luckily all our stuff is 4WD so do it but it’s definitely heavy snow today,” he added.
Luckily for the city, a new backhoe-loader snow removal equipment — a four-in-one snow blade — arrived just before the storm.
“This is perfect, it just landed on Wednesday and our operator who runs it today just said it was phenomenal so it’s a big turning point for us,” Beaudin said.
He also reminded residents of the current winter parking ban to allow crews to clean the streets more quickly.
“If the cars aren’t on the road, we can plow right up to the curbs and not have to come back afterwards to plow residents in, which isn’t ideal for them and us,” Beaudin said.
Over at Memorial Park, kids were enjoying a snowy day after the buses were canceled and tried sledding, but the heavy snow didn’t help.
“It’s not so good!” said a boy.
“It was awful,” added another.
So the sleds were abandoned to build a snowman instead.
“They’re having a great time,” Kelly Wu said. “I think they’re going to have a great workout so we can go home and maybe have some time off watching a Christmas movie.”
A snowfall warning remains in effect for the region, with between 20 and 30 centimeters expected by Saturday morning.
