Bitter cold temperatures, record (or at least near-record) snowfall, and now — freezing rain. Ottawa drivers and other road users continue to struggle navigating the difficult conditions this week.
Ottawa paramedics tweeted a photo of a car up on a snowbank on Highway 417 near Nicholas Street on Saturday morning.
“Drivers are just driving right off the road on snowbanks, “said Darryl Wilton, president of the Professional Paramedic Association of Ottawa.
“They either end up in ditches, deep in a ditch or up high up on top of a snowbank,” he said. “Every one of the collisions has been a single-vehicle collision.”
“We’ve had some interesting occurrences all week.”
A woman tries to avoids huge puddles as she walks through the Glebe on Saturday.
Wilton advises drivers to slow down and make sure their cars are properly equipped for winter driving. “It’s obviously attributed to driver error,” he said.
There have been no serious injuries as a result of the collisions.
After a 51-centimetre snowfall on Tuesday that was the largest single-day accumulation ever measured at the Ottawa airport, municipal crews are still working to clear snow on roads and sidewalks, the City of Ottawa said in a news release Friday evening.
Plows will focus on clearing arterial and collector roads first.
With some catch basins covered by snow, the city advised residents to call 3-1-1 if they see significant water pooling near buildings or on roads.
The Rideau Canal is closed, although that didn’t deter one pedestrian Saturday. The National Capital Commission says the canal will reopen to skaters when weather permits.
The soggy weather meant the closure of the Rideau Canal to skaters, the National Capital Commission announced. It urged the public to stay off the ice and to respect barricades and signs at access points.
The NCC said crews will work to reopen the canal as quickly as possible, as weather permits.
That’s unlikely to be this weekend. The temperature had reached 4 C by Saturday afternoon, moving toward a predicted high of 5 degrees. Showers were expected to continue.
Saturday night will be cloudy, Environment Canada says, with a 60-per-cent chance of showers or flurries overnight and a low of -2.
Sunday is expected to be mainly cloudy, with a 40-per-cent chance of flurries in the morning and a high of 0 C.
The Canadian Ski Marathon will continue today, despite having cancelled past events due to freezing rain.
Martine Chenier, an organizer of the event, said ski tracks were carved out this morning due to fresh snow that fell last night.
Peyton Soulard was trying to “make this street clean” outside El Furniture Warehouse on Clarence Street.
A person makes their way past the Shaw Centre in Saturday February 20, 2016.
The NCC closed the Rideau Canal Skateway temporarily Saturday February 20, 2016 after Ottawa was hit with warmer weather and rain.
