Politician in hard-hit Noa Scotia county says bigger snowplows needed after historic Maritimes snowstorm

HALIFAX - A senior politician in Nova Scotia's rural Pictou County said Thursday his municipality was still struggling to clear last weekend's massive snowfall, partly because the area had been overlooked by the provincial government.

"That's been a concern in this county for a while," said Robert Parker, the county's warden. "We were hit pretty darn hard with this one, yet all the attention is on Cape Breton."

Cape Breton, to the east of Pictou, received as much as 150 centimetres of snow, and it has been the focus of provincial and federal relief efforts. But Parker said reports from Pictou County indicating 60 to 70 cm of snowfall last weekend drastically understated how much snow actually piled up.

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"It started on Friday afternoon and it kept on coming all weekend and right into Monday," Parker said, arguing that the area was actually buried under 90 cm to a metre of snow amid higher drifts. "We may not be as bad as some other places, but we're in bad shape, though improving."

The warden said the province's snowplowing efforts were poor earlier in the week, but have since improved, helped by the arrival of big snow-clearing machines from New Brunswick.

Still, 29 of the county's roads remained blocked as of Wednesday night. And almost all of the county's roads are maintained by the provincial government.

Premier Tim Houston's Progressive Conservative government should start buying bigger equipment to handle future "super storms," Parker said. "The trucks aren't built heavy enough and there's not enough of them."

Houston stressed Thursday that the province managed to clear 200 roads on Wednesday, even though it has been dealing with a record-breaking amount of snow in some areas. Another 50 roads, however, were still impassable by Thursday.

"We will have a discussion to see if there is something we can do differently," he said after a cabinet meeting in Halifax.

Public Works Minister Kim Masland said five per cent of the provinces' snow-clearing equipment had broken down in the past few days. "I do not think that is a very high amount considering the weight of the snow that we were dealing with," she said.

Her department confirmed Thursday it had moved 113 pieces of equipment, some of it from private contractors, to the province's northern and eastern districts.

Meanwhile, Parker said Pictou County welcomed the arrival Wednesday of 10 snowmobiles donated by the province. Each machine came with two people from Team Rubicon Canada, a non-profit that helps communities recover from disasters and humanitarian crises. The snowmobiles will be used to reach vulnerable people who haven't been able to leave their homes.

"I talked to a lady this morning (and) the snow is hanging off her roof, down onto her doorstep," the warden said. "She can't get out of her house. Just imagine if we had a fire."

Mona Teed, a spokeswoman for the Victorian Order of Nurses, said nurses and continuing care assistants with the non-profit agency are maintaining telephone contact on at least a daily basis with their clients.

Since the weekend, Teed said the organization has recorded a steep drop in the number of clients who reported being trapped in their homes.

"Staff are trying their very best to get out to whomever they can," said Teed, director of home and community care for Pictou and Cumberland counties. "More and more people are getting access."

However, she said, roads in the more remote corners of Pictou County remain rough, snow-covered and icy.

"Some roads have not even had one lane made open yet -- completely snowed in with no access … to get out to a main road," she said. "There are still people who can't leave their homes and we can't get into their homes."

Parker said he's been told the roads will be cleared by Friday, but he's not convinced that will happen.

"In the meantime, we have to do everything we can to make sure we don't run into a disaster or lose somebody because they couldn't get what they needed."

The provincial government has said more than 1,000 people are on the job using about 400 pieces of equipment to clear snow across Nova Scotia.

Meanwhile, the province's Opposition Liberal party is calling on Houston to offer financial relief to residents in Cape Breton and northeastern Nova Scotia. Liberal Leader Zack Churchill says that after post-tropical storm Fiona caused widespread damage in September 2022, the government announced a support package to help residents clear their properties and recover from the financial stress.

"The premier hasn't taken this storm seriously, and the result has left thousands of Nova Scotians without the support they need to get by," Churchill said in a statement.

"We've heard of seniors trapped in their homes and people unable to get cancer and dialysis treatment. The very least this government can do is to treat this storm with the same urgency they did (post-tropical storm) Fiona."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2024.

Snowed-in and isolated, health worries mount for some Cape Bretoners In Nova Scotia

Snowed-in and isolated, health worries mount for some Cape Bretoners

Home-care workers strive to stay in touch with most vulnerable

With travel still difficult or impossible in parts of Cape Breton, health concerns are top of mind for many people. Whether it's home care, medication or hospital treatments, efforts are being made to help those most at risk.

The Meals on Wheels program in Sydney has conducted a phone check-in with its clients.

"People are feeling scared, isolated and running really low on critical medicines and basic food staples in their homes," said Erika Shea, president of New Dawn Enterprises, which runs Meals on Wheels.

The Cape Breton Metro VON has been in daily phone conduct with its home-care clients, triaging the most vulnerable.

Some clients have family or neighbours who can help them, and some are able to look after their own needs on a short-term basis, said district executive director Elizabeth MacDonald.

"Other clients, however, might have some cognitive issues or have dementia or have dexterity issues, or just simply aren't able to perform some of the tasks that we would do," she told CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton on Thursday.

VON home-care staff have been shovelling into clients' homes and wading through snow-covered streets in some cases.

"We review our list every day for vulnerable clients," said MacDonald, noting staff have probably made a thousand calls to clients in recent days.

"Folks come on, folks come off our list, according to if somebody's gotten there to shovel, or if a nurse has finally gotten in. But yeah, it is a concern. And tomorrow will be really a week. And I know a lot of clients we talk to are scared."

Glace Bay pharmacist Sarah Boutelier has also been hearing from people running low on medications.

"A little bit of panic. Not too bad yet. But of course major concern about what was going to happen in the coming days," she told CBC's Mainstreet Cape Breton on Wednesday.

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Her pharmacy is making deliveries where possible. She encourages people who are concerned about their prescriptions to reach out for help.

Her pharmacy is making deliveries where possible. She encourages people who are concerned about their prescriptions to reach out for help.

"There are going to be situations where if they feel they need to ration their medication to get them a couple of extra days, that could be an option," she said.

"But of course we recommend people reach out to their local pharmacy, many of whom are open now, to get some advice on how to safely and properly do that."

If it's difficult to get through to a pharmacy, as many are currently swamped with calls, Boutelier suggests calling 311.

Nova Scotia Health has resumed some non-emergency services in its eastern zone, including elective surgeries. Outpatient blood collection and ambulatory care clinics in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality have resumed.

Rehab services are still restricted in the CBRM to urgent cases only, but outpatient rehab clinics at all other sites have resumed.

New Dawn's Meals on Wheels team planned to get out to snowed-in clients on Thursday with necessities.

"To send a meal out ... pick up critical medicines, pick up grocery deliveries, and get those to the about 40 clients who have not been able to leave their home," said Shea.

Roads being widened, back roads cleared on day 4 of winter storm cleanup on Prince Edward Island

The province says roads across Prince Edward are now open for traffic

Kevin Yarr · CBC News · Posted: Feb 08, 2024 7:16 AM AST | Last Updated: 9 hours ago

Travel conditions are improving on P.E.I., but snowplow operators still have a lot of work to do.

Snow started falling on the Island last Friday and continued for four days.

By the end of the day Monday, there was 60 centimetres of snow down in Charlottetown and more than 80 in parts of Kings County.

It was the biggest snowfall since 2015 and the cleanup is taking some time.

All public schools were closed for the first two days of the week and most continued to be shut on Wednesday. Students are back in class for Thursday.

The plow dispatcher in Kings County says roads are open, but many secondary roads are still only one lane.

Plows in Queens are working on widening main roads and cutting down drifts at intersections to improve sightlines.

In Prince County, which was not hit as hard, roads are bare and dry but work is still continuing on back roads.

P.E.I. is still digging out after a massive four-day storm left as much as 80 centimetres of snow in some parts of the province. Crews were out in force Thursday morning clearing snow from sidewalks and roads in Charlottetown. Here's how they did it.

Plows clearing everything from city streets to country farms

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The City of Charlottetown says snow-clearing efforts will run into next week, but sidewalks should be cleared by the end of this week.

Traffic has been slow in the city, with many turning lanes at busy intersections still blocked with snow.