Mayor John Tory says city crews are ready to tackle a complex, multi-pronged storm already hitting Toronto that will see rain, freezing rain, flash freezing, high winds and snowfall as we get into the holiday weekend.
“This is going to be a multi-day, multi-round event,” said Vincent Sferrazza, the City of Toronto’s director of operations and maintenance, alongside Tory at a press conference held Friday morning.
“If we do see the anticipated accumulations of possibly 10 to 15 cm, we’re looking at multiple rounds or multiple passes in order to make the roads safe and passable,” Sferrazza continued.
He also said the anticipation of blowing snow will mean crews will have go back to roads they’ve already just cleared for another pass.
Tory said the biggest concern from forecasts is the high winds, which meteorologists have predicted to be around 90 to 100 km/h for Toronto.
“These are winds that approach Category 1 hurricane, combined with the snow that’s supposed to fall, makes for an unusual sort of storm,” Tory said.
Tory is urging people to stay home but admits he knows the timing is hard as people may still have Christmas shopping to finish or have plans to travel to see family for the holidays.
He urges people to take caution driving if they have to hit the roads.
Meanwhile, Sferrazza said a liquid brine that is typically applied before a snowstorm was not applied ahead of time due to the significant amount of rain that has fallen over the last 12 hours.
“If we had done so it would have washed right into the sewers and sewer systems so it was literally ineffective to do that type of service,” Sferrazza said.
Updated equipment such as “combination equipment” includes trucks that are able to salt and plow simultaneously, Sferrazza said.
“It will have a blade and it’ll have the salt spinners on the side and on the back as well so it will allow it to transition a lot quicker,” he said.
Meanwhile, Toronto District School Board has closed schools on Friday due to the storm. As well, the TTC has skipped service at 41 bus stops and shut down Line 3, replacing it with buses due to weather.
In addition, WestJet said it has cancelled flights across Canada, including Toronto Pearson Airport, amid a storm “unlike anything we’ve experienced.”