Regina may have received less than three centimetres of snow, but that didn’t stop an overnight blizzard from wreaking havoc on the Queen City.
Wild winds that reached up to 85 km/h damaged property, whipped snow into metres-high drifts and left several motorists in need of rescue late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
“From 7:00 in the evening, I would say I was here until 2:00 in the morning,” said Harbour Landing resident Prashanth Boyanaplly, whom Global News spoke to on Parliament Avenue near Sarcan on Tuesday afternoon.
Despite his efforts, Boyanapply had thus far been unable to free his vehicle, which was buried under snowdrifts after he got stuck between other vehicles while driving home Monday evening.
“The worst part is I didn’t have any food with me to eat or drink. Somebody in the back car, there was a line of like 12 to 13 cars in a row, somebody shared some food with me. That was really good. I had good company.”
The City of Regina says its crews have responded to snow blockages on Courtney Street, Diefenbaker Drive, Dewdney Avenue and Fleet Street as well as around the Westerra neighbourhood.
“On Monday afternoon, crews were in Storm Mode to keep major roads drivable by plowing and applying ice control at high-risk intersections, on high-speed roads, and those with the greatest volume of traffic. Crews also attended to emergency routes, and areas prone to blowing snow,” a supplied city statement on storm response reads.
“Crews are working to remove stuck vehicles which will allow winter maintenance equipment to safely plow the roads and restore normal winter driving conditions as quickly as possible.”
A Regina Police Service spokesperson says RPS officers responded to around 70 storm-related calls for service through the night. Nineteen of those were car crashes, though they say nobody was seriously hurt.
The Regina Public, Catholic and Prairie Valley school divisions all cancelled transportation Tuesday, while both St. Nicolas and Plainsview schools were closed altogether for the day due to impassable roads nearby.
The blizzard came thanks to an “Alberta Clipper” system, weather experts say.
Ministry of Highways spokesperson Steve Shaheen told Global News the storm caused the most extensive road closures he’s seen in over a decade working with the province.
“Certainly we’ll get pockets where there are localized closures, you know, along the Trans Canada or along Highway 16 as the weather system passes through,” he said.
“But to see it unfold and essentially create whiteout conditions right from west to east was a bit of an anomaly.”