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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.