Life gets back to normal in Halifax following blast of winter weather

HALIFAX – People in the Halifax area were left digging out on Wednesday after the region’s first major snow event of the year blew through the day before.

In Halifax, many roads were nearly bare, and with the exception of some slushy sections, the sidewalks were mostly clear.

The city says it mobilized all its resources for the storm and had hundreds of pieces of snow-clearing equipment on the road.

“For us, this was basically all hands on deck, so every available resource that we have, all the trucks that we have either in house or on hourly retainer,” said Darrin Natolino, spokesperson for the city’s transportation and public works department.

Slippery roads caused a school bus carrying 15 children to slide into a ditch in Eastern Passage during the morning commute, injuring one young girl.

In Waverley, N.S., people were outside cleaning up the snow.

“I thought it would be a little worse than what it was,” said resident Curtis Levangie. “It wasn’t too bad. Snowblower wasn’t working as well as it should have, so going to get it fixed up and ready for the next one.”

Things also started getting back to normal at Stanfield International Airport after most flights were cancelled Tuesday.

“I’m really tired. I’ve been cooped up in a hotel for two days and it will be really nice to get back to Boston,” said Sheila McEvoy, who was stranded in Halifax for 48 hours.

The cleanup from the storm won’t come cheap — Natolino said the cost to the the city was in excess of $100,000 per hour.

“An operation like this, it certainly hits the coffers,” he said. “We do have a budget that we try to stay within.”