March 19, 2015 by Canadian Underwriter
Clean-up efforts are continuing in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), after a blizzard that dumped more than 80 centimetres in the region since the weekend.
Most areas saw more than 50 centimetres of snow on Wednesday and high snow banks and blowing snow are causing poor visibility across the region, the HRM reported in a press release on Thursday morning. Due to the ongoing storm cleanup and continued suspension of Halifax Transit bus service, all municipal offices, recreation facilities, including rinks and pools, and customer service centres in the Halifax region remained closed on Thursday. CFB Halifax bases were also closed, Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said on Twitter.
“Safety is the municipality’s top priority,” the press release said. “Keeping the offices closed will facilitate ongoing clearing efforts by crews and ensure a safer commute tomorrow for our employees and residents.”
Halifax Transit staff decided late Wednesday to continue the suspension of bus and Access-A-Bus service on Thursday morning to allow the municipality to address an issue with one of two Halifax Transit bus garages, and continue with ongoing snow clearing of major arterials throughout the region. Work is continuing to remove snow from the roof of the depot and the objective is to ramp up limited bus service on routes along major corridors in the city from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday.
“Work is continuing to open up residential side streets across the region and widen the main arterial routes,” the municipality said in the press release. “Crews were able to remove a significant amount of snow from the most challenging areas on Barrington Street, Bell Road, Summer Street and University Avenue last night and heavy equipment will be ramping up today to start cutting down snow banks and hauling snow away across the region.”
The HRM also said that Halifax Regional Police and RCMP continue to enforce Section 139 of the Motor Vehicle Act, which prevents on-street parking any time, day or night, when snow clearing work is going on.
.@HfxRegPolice helping @hfxgov crews block traffic to clear streets. @danahlstrand has our top story this morning. pic.twitter.com/LjfPHhqx4N
— Adam Burns (@caperadamburns) March 19, 2015
Halfiax storms dump more snow than White Juan in 2004 http://t.co/UpmwdmWnoa
— Halifax News (@halifaxnews) March 19, 2015
Our Consumer Info Centre is open & here to help with any #insurance Q’s following #nsstorm. 1-844-2ask-IBC @nsemo pic.twitter.com/1mIMMXjKQs
— IBC (@InsuranceBureau) March 19, 2015
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