EDMONTON- After receiving upwards of 30 centimetres of snow in some areas of Edmonton Thursday, there are concerns over flooding, as temperatures rise above the freezing mark next week.
Cleanup crews have been working around the clock for days, to remove snow from Edmonton roadways.
"We've got 90 hired equipment graters, we've supplemented that with our own fleet, so we're up at around 200 pieces of equipment on the roadways," said Roland Aitchison, Superintendent of Operations for Roadway Maintenance with the City of Edmonton.
Those crews have been hauling snow, by the truckload, to one of the city's five snow dumping sites.
"We push snow as high as we can push snow," said Aitchison. "Our snow sites have been challenged. There's a lot of traffic that's going in and out of those sites."
Contracted snow hauler John Badgley has been a part of that traffic. He says he's hauled between 30 and 40 truckloads of snow per day, from area roadways and parking lots to the snow mountain on 184th Street and 107th Avenue.
"It's better to have it in a site where the water can disperse properly and go into the drains, rather than flooding parking lots and flooding streets," explained Badgley.
Temperatures are expected to reach daytime highs between five and seven degrees celcius by the end of next week. And as the mercury rises, there are growing concerns the snow will melt very quickly and cause flooding in some areas. However, the city says its prepared.
"There's a lot of snow on the roads and there's a lot of snow on the boulevards, so we will have some melting concerns. We're ready for that," said Aitchison. "We work closely with our drainage counterparts. We have some contingency plans to deal with that when it happens."
Officials say flooding can sometimes be avoided if home and business owners are proactive with their snow removal.
"If people don't get rid of the snow out of their parking lots, they pile it up in the corner, it floods the parking lot, people can't get in with their cars and if it makes it onto the road it just gets, sometimes, six inches or a foot (deep)," Badgley said. "If people keep on top of it and just get rid of it every chance that they can, then we don't have problems."
However, Aitchison says if Edmontonians do experience flooding, they can dial 311 and someone will respond.
"We will have a city employee come out and check the site and if there's anything we need to do from the snow and ice perspective, we will respond."
The city also offers tips on how to prevent flooding, in its Homeowner's Guide to Flood Prevention.
With files from Shannon Greer.
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