Ontario residents say they remain trapped for third day due to blizzard

As the city struggles to clear snow from the streets and sidewalks after Monday’s massive snowstorm, some Toronto residents say they remain trapped in their homes, unable to leave because there is no safe path.

Manuel Diaz, a resident of Holton Road, woke up for a third morning to find their street was still not plowed. He said he couldn’t get his car out and had to call a cab to get to the hospital for a checkup.

“I’ve not gone to work for two days,” he said

Plows started arriving in that area just before noon on Wednesday but other areas are still waiting.

“I tried to call city council nobody answered,” another resident told CTV News Toronto. “I tried to call 311 nobody answered, and we're still waiting for the snowplowing.”

For those with disabilities, the huge mounds of snow present a major mobility problem that can stop them in their tracks as they try to get around the city.

Allison Brown is legally blind and walks with the help of guide dog Ellis. But he can’t help her get over the snow.

“I’ve fallen several times already,” she said. “I feel with my feet. I know where I can cross, where the dip is in the sidewalk. With the piles of snow I have no chance. I have no idea what is underfoot at all.”

She implored the city, and the owners of property, to fully clear the snow so that she and Ellis can walk side by side — otherwise she says she can’t make a journey at all.

It’s generally the responsibility of the property owner to clear sidewalks, with a $135 fee in Toronto if you don’t do it within 12 hours after a snowfall stops.

A new plan by the city to clear about 1500 km of sidewalks with smaller plows is ramping up — but the city has only obtained 35 of the 50 plows it ordered to be purchased last summer.

Toronto Mayor John Tory said Wednesday morning that crews are working around the clock to plow all the streets, but that some residential areas haven’t been touched in 48 hours.

“Our staff are doing a great job. They're working 24 hours a day, they have hundreds of people and trucks and all kinds of equipment doing this so we're going to get this job done and I can just tell the woman who's written from Scarborough and others that the job will get done and it is getting done,” Tory said.

A total of 55 centimetres of snow fell in Toronto throughout the day on Monday.