Home Weather Snow and cold continues into work week

Snow and cold continues into work week

Road travel not recommended in snowy conditions, some services impacted

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Island Social Trends
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snow, roads, transit, garbage pickup
Snowy roads impacting services and travel in the west shore today.
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Monday, February 11, 2019 ~ WEST SHORE & SOOKE

~ by West Shore Voice News

As the week of February 11 gets underway, schools are closed in the west shore and Sooke, and power outages continue for about 600 BC Hydro customers in the Sooke and Metchosin areas. Buses are running but with some detours and delays (but the BC Transit website is “experiencing an outage”).

In the west shore, Colwood, Sooke and Langford municipal halls are open today but in some cases without full staffing.

  • LANGFORD: “We encourage residents to stay home and stay safe as crews work to clear the roads. Designated staff will continue to respond to emergency situations,” says a bulletin from City of Langford. “If you have an issue to report, please email engineering@langford.ca for immediate response or call Langford’s general line at 250-478-7882,” says Langford Director of Engineering Michelle Mahovlich.
  • “As safety is our number one priority for our residents, employees working in Langford, crews working 24/7 to clear our roads and first responders, we ask residents to stay at home, businesses to limit all non-essential vehicular activity, and those on the road to respect winter conditions and your fellow travellers until this current storm event ends,” says Mahovlich.
  • The City of Langford contracts Victoria Contracting and Municipal Maintenance to do roads maintenance.  There are typically five to seven plows including a large tandem plow. There are two dedicated brine trucks that run in advance of large weather events, and a dedicated sidewalk cleaning machine. Crew run 24/7 during winter months.
  • COLWOOD: In Colwood about 12 public works staff are doing day/night shifts to maintain the roads. There are six trucks plowing the roads and brining afterward. This has happened for each snowfall starting Friday, then again Sunday, this morning, and will happen again later today, says Colwood communications rep Sandra Russell. Colwood maintains its own public works yard behind city hall on Wishart Road.
  • Colwood meetings tonight: The Public Hearing for 6:45 pm and Colwood Council meeting for 7 pm this evening February 11 were still scheduled to happen but then at 1:30 pm were cancelled. “With snow continuing to fall heavily, we are encouraging residents to avoid driving if at all possible,” said Colwood Mayor Rob Martin. www.colwood.ca
  • SOOKE: In Sooke as many staff as could get into municipal hall are there and things are running fine, says Jennifer Royer-Collard, Corporate Services Assistant. There have been no major snow-related issues to report. Roads within the municipal area are cleared by Mainroad South Island on contract with the District of Sooke, as well as on Highway 14 which is the main (only) access in and out of Sooke which is 20 km from Langford and 35 km from downtown Victoria.
  • Today Highway 14 west of Sooke remains closed in both directions due to significant tree-fall, downed power lines and hazardous road conditions; Highway 14 is open between Langford and Sooke.
  • The District of Sooke Regular Council meeting scheduled for tonight February 11 has been cancelled/reschedule to February 25. www.sooke.ca
  • JUAN DE FUCA (East Sooke, and west of Sooke). Power remains out for some residents there. JdF Emergency Coordinator Jeri Grant reminds all residents in that rural area to have a 7-day supply of emergency support equipment in winter, including stocking the pantry with enough food to not have to cook for several days.

ENVIRONMENT CANADA. Since snowfall began on Friday February 8 — followed by a windstorm on Saturday night into Sunday, with more snow (5 to 15 cm) in the Environment Canada forecast for today and into this evening February 11 — the impact of winter has been forefront for most people, especially when it comes to transportation. Another 15 to 25 cm is expected to fall heavily overnight Monday and into Tuesday February 12.

For a short while on Sunday evening, the Malahat section of Highway 1 was closed by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure so that maintenance crews could clear the road surface without endangering anyone.

BC Hydro has posted this standard message online on their Outages page for a few days: “Crews continue to make steady progress on restoration in the Fraser Valley, Lower Mainland, and Vancouver Island. Challenging conditions have made it difficult to access some areas which is impacting restoration times. Crews will be working around the clock until everyone is back, and individual restoration times will be provided as available.”

DISPOSAL & RECYCLING.  Several pickup routes are impacted.

  • Alpine garbage pickup is running. The Alpine trucks rolled out a bit later than usual but are picking up on the usual Monday routes.
  • CRD Blue Box curbside pickup. Cancelled in East Sooke, parts of Metchosin, and west of Sooke today due to road conditions (specifically, cancellations are in Jordan River, East Sooke, Otter Point, Kangaroo Rd including Sooke Road between Kangaroo & Sooke, and Rocky Point Road). “On all other Blue Box routes, efforts will be made to collect recyclable materials in areas that drivers can safely access, however, some households will miss collection due to safety risk to both drivers and residents,” says CRD. “Residents affected are advised to bring recycling inside until their next collection day.” A list of depots where recycling can be dropped off for free is available at www.crd.bc.ca/bluebox .

Juan de Fuca Emergency Program, emergency preparedness, power outageCOMMON SENSE: If travel isn’t necessary, it’s best not to risk being on snowy, icy roads and walkways. Stay off the roads, and work remotely from home where possible.

PUBLIC TRANSIT: On snowy days some people choose to take public transit as the safer option, so that increases the ridership on many routes. However, today with schools closed there is less student ridership. So the buses are carrying about the same number of riders today, says BC Transit media rep Jonathan Dyck.

In the west shore, Route 54 in Metchosin and 55 in the Happy Valley area are not serving Duke Road right now. Route 61 to Sooke is running but its extension as Route 63 is not serving Whiffin Spit. Route 64 in East Sooke is turning around at Gillespie and Rocky Point.

“There are no bus route cancellations in west shore but that could change,” says Dyck.  While the BC Transit website is unavailable for live updates, riders are advised to check BC Transit on Facebook and Twitter.

The door to door handyDART service is available only for essential medical appointments.

ISLAND HEALTH:  In some emergencies air ambulance is an option, as is coordinating with police/fire if ground transportation is necessary.