The cleanup from a major winter storm that dumped more than 15 centimtres of snow on the city may not be fully complete until Friday or Saturday, officials say.
Snow started falling across Toronto early Wednesday morning and stopped just in time for the afternoon commute.
At around 4 p.m., crews had completed four rounds of salting on expressways, three rounds of salting on aerial roads, two rounds of salting on collector roads and one round of salting on local roads.
The first round of plowing on the city’s expressways, arterial roads and collector roads was also half completed, though officials say that plowing on local roads wouldn’t begin until Wednesday evening.
Officials say that they hope to have the city’s 6,618 kilometres of local roads plowed by 3 p.m. tomorrow. Any local road not plowed by that time can be reported to 311.
“We will review some of our local streets after this storm to see if we need to get into some of those streets to remove the snow. I think we may have to but that has yet to be determined,” Toronto’s superintendent of road operations Mark Mills told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. “We think this will all be cleaned up maybe into Friday or Saturday morning and then we will have crews out there to assess what needs to be done.”
Snowfall tops record for this date
As of 8 p.m., a total of 18 centimetres of snow had fallen at Pearson International Airport, topping the previous high for this date of 12.4 centimetres that was set in 2013.
Mills, however, said the snowfall in other parts of the city may be even higher with reports of up to 20 centimetres of accumulation in Scarborough.
That makes this storm the second biggest to hit Toronto so far this winter after a system on Jan. 28 that dumped 26.4 centimetres of snow on the city.
Speaking with reporters at a salt yard on Eastern Avenue, Mills conceded that the storm “didn’t happen at the greatest of times” and said that the city’s plows and salt trucks are stuck in the same congestion that many drivers are.
“It will extend our times to complete the plowing but please have extreme patience and give our crews the time and space necessary and we will get these roads in good shape,” he said.
Mills previously described the storm as an “all hands on deck” event and said that the city’s entire fleet of 1,100 pieces of snow removal equipment will be called on during the cleanup.
He said that between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes of salt has been deployed as part of a “first line of defence” to the storm, slick roads and sidewalks have still been reported.
“In any snow storm you may have ice so please walk with caution, drive with caution, give yourself some extra time and space,” he said.
Closures, delays prompted by storm
A number of schools in the GTA cancelled buses this morning in anticipation of the messy weather. In some areas, like Halton District School Board and Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, both schools and buses were cancelled.
Seneca College said closed all its campuses as of 6 p.m. due to the weather and the University of Toronto said that its Mississauga campus would be shuttered as of 5 p.m.
Ryerson University and York University remained open for afternoon and evening classes.
In Brampton, the city has declared a “significant weather event” due to the snowfall. The advisory was issued in the afternoon and will be in place until further notice.
“People using the roads and sidewalks in the city are advised to exercise caution and avoid unnecessary travel. Due to the significant event declaration, service levels have increased,” a release from the city reads.
“All roads, sidewalks, transit stops, crosswalks and trails are expected to be maintained within 48 hours after the end of the snowfall.”
At Pearson International Airport, travellers were warned to keep an eye on their flight status as the weather may impact arrival and departure times.
Billy Bishop Airport had similar advice. The downtown waterfront airport asked customers to leave extra time to get to and from the airport.
