Plows out in force to get city moving

Unless you plan to spend the day skiing or on a toboggan, it will be an tough start to the week as the city continues to uncover roads clogged by the blizzard that smothered the region this weekend.

A major winter storm dumped almost 29 cm since the snow began Friday, said Environment Canada meteorologist David Wray. By Monday, the Edmonton area could see another centimetre of snow, accompanied by colder temperatures closer to -25 C with wind chill.

The city's snow clearing efforts are progressing, with downtown streets clear as of Sunday and the plowing of collector and bus routes expected to begin Monday morning.

Once priority routes have been cleared, crews will work on residential streets -- but city spokeswoman Laura McNabb said Sunday she couldn't "even begin to speculate" when that might happen. "They're going to have to kind of see where things sit in the morning before they can start thinking that way," said McNabb. Snow accumulation, alongside other factors, would have to be assessed, she said. "I could give you a guess ... but it would be meaningless."

The city's full fleet of 111 graders, sanders and plowing trucks spent Sunday clearing arterial roads around the clock. More than 100 private graders also took to the streets at midnight Saturday, working through the afternoon, before being deployed again at midnight Sunday. Edmontonians are reminded to keep cars parked off-street to accommodate crews.

Buses were running just a few minutes behind schedule Sunday, said Ben Mittelsteadt, communications adviser with the City of Edmonton's transportation department. "Buses are moving with the flow of traffic so motorists can expect it will take a few more minutes to reach their destinations with driving for winter conditions, and it's the same for our buses," Mittelsteadt said. Monday, he said, is expected to be business as usual.

"We're a winter city. I think most people are familiar with the snow and we just ask people who are going out to dress warmly and be patient."

School buses have also been affected by the storm, with transportation for Edmonton Catholic Schools' 100 Voices programs cancelled on Monday, wrote spokeswoman Lori Nagy in an e-mail. About 200 students are registered in the early-learning half-day program.

All other school bus services will be operating, Nagy said, but if a bus doesn't show up, parents should make alternate transportation arrangements for their children.

Edmonton Public Schools have not cancelled any bus services, but delays are expected, said Lorne Parker, managing director of planning and student transportation.

Snowfall should taper off Monday, but another five centimetres of snow is forecasted to arrive Thursday, said Wray.

"If you look at it in terms of a whole month, it's not abnormal," he said of this weekend's whiteout. But "for a storm total, it's a bit on the higher side. I'd say it would rank up there. I don't think it breaks any records, but it definitely is a relatively large dump over the course of two days."

Cold and wind has replaced flurries, Wray said. In Edmonton, temperatures sat at an icy -16 C Sunday, but with winds gusting up to 30 km/h, it felt more like -27 C, said Wray.

"Make sure you bundle up," he advised. "The wind should ease off by Monday."

Despite the city's clearing efforts, the AMA reported poor road conditions for most of the Edmonton area and central Alberta on Sunday, with a few classified as fair. Most roads in northern Alberta were also classified as fair. Tow bans remained in place on and off throughout the province, the AMA said.

In Edmonton, wait times for road assistance were more than double what they were at the height of the storm Saturday, climbing to 30 hours for tows and 10 hours for all other services on Sunday.

"They're worse," said AMA technical services manager Randy Loyk of the waits.

"It's getting stupid out there."

On Sunday afternoon, Loyk said there were roughly 200 vehicles waiting for help from some 60 tow trucks operating in the city. Most calls were from people stuck in snowbanks on residential streets and parking lots with knee-high drifts. Some cars were jammed so badly that tow trucks needed an hour to get them out.

"Everybody's getting stuck, no matter where they go," said Loyk. "And of course there are people out on the highways and they shouldn't be. They're hitting the ditch and we're having to get out there and get them out because they're in danger, so it's just snowballing."

Hundreds of traffic-related calls came into the RCMP, prompting spokesman Sgt. Patrick Webb to sum up the weekend in one word: "Disastrous."

"The good part was that we had very few collisions; as far as I know, only one fatality," said Webb.

"The bad part was it was extremely difficult for people to stay on the highways, especially in central and southern Alberta. Lots of vehicles off the roads, lots of minor collisions, lots of motorists stranded in various locations, especially east and south of Calgary."

Many drivers were also under-dressed for the weather.

"It's not as if police vehicles are immune to the weather," said Webb. "If somebody goes off the road and flies into the ditch, they expect a magic police vehicle to come along and save them. We don't have those vehicles. We're working on them."

Police checked every stranded vehicle, and Webb expected the situation to stay treacherous overnight. "It may be extremely difficult or virtually impossible to rescue everybody tonight," he said Sunday.

While things might look better outside, Loyk warned drivers not to go out if they don't have to.

"Some of these major roadways have been cleared, but they're extremely icy now, so people are not driving for the road conditions and they need to slow down," he said.

Loyk expected conditions to improve as residential areas are cleared. "It's going to start improving," he said. "It's just going to take a few days."

He also reminded drivers to slow down around emergency services vehicles and to plug in their cars as temperatures dip this week.

Restaurants and stores saw a dramatic drop in business Saturday as many Edmontonians chose to hibernate at home.

Some establishments closed hours earlier than usual. Others reduced their staffing or used wait staff to do a little bit of spring cleaning.

Ryan Ostrowercha, manager of the Joey's Only on the north side, ended up doing everything himself Saturday.

"I took the orders, I did the cooking, I washed the dishes, all by myself." What was the point of keeping on two servers, a chef and dishwasher, he figured.

"I had one table at 2:30 and I didn't have anything until 6."

Sales were about a quarter of what they usually are on a Saturday, he said.

Customers would arrive and upon getting stuck in the unplowed parking lot, wouldn't even bother coming into the seafood restaurant. Business was better Sunday, Ostrowercha said, but not back to normal, with the parking lot still unplowed by late afternoon.

Business is always bad after a storm, but this is a lot worse than usual, said Ostrowercha, who has worked for the restaurant chain for 13 years.

Flights at the Edmonton International Airport continued to operate on schedule for the most part Sunday, said spokeswoman Sarah Meffen. Some flights arriving from Calgary were delayed, but no flights destined for Calgary had to be diverted to Edmonton, she added.

"Our crews are out on the runways working non-stop to maintain them, but it's not as difficult as it was yesterday," Meffen said. "Today is a much better day for us at the airport."

Blowing snow presented the most difficult challenge for crews, she added, because snow accumulation in the gate areas was preventing aircraft from moving toward the runways.

"We're having to work extra hard in that area to remove the snow so the aircraft can push back from the gate," she said.

Temperatures are expected to be close to -30 C by the week's end.