City of Regina braces for second snowstorm in a week

City of Regina snow removal crews are facing a quick turnaround this weekend as they prepare to face another snowstorm over the weekend.

Regina is expected to get up to 25 centimetres of snow from Saturday into Sunday.

Chris Warren, director of roadways and transportation, said the city was scheduled to wrap up its systematic plow — which covers all of Regina’s major roads — on Friday afternoon after 10 cm of snow fell on Tuesday through Wednesday.

“We know that keeping our roads safe is a top priority, and we’ll have crews working around the clock to tackle the storm,” Warren said.

Warren said the city didn’t have as much time to prepare for this storm as it normally would, due to still dealing with the effects of earlier storm.

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“We do have our full complement of equipment and resources, that includes both our internal crews and our contracted crew,s ready to go for this upcoming storm,” Warren said.

“Typically we’ll be in a response to clear open major roads, major intersections, perimeter roads, and those neighborhoods on the perimeter during the storm and the snowfall.”

Warren said some of the areas on the city’s perimeter are at risk of becoming impassable due to drifting and blowing snow.

“If there is a road that’s blocked in or impassable, we would just ask residents to call Service Regina, either through the phone or through the website,” he said.

“Let us know that there’s a problem with the road. We have people looking at those service requests, inspecting them, and then assigning the work, if work is needed.”

Chris Warren, director of roadways and transportation with the City of Regina. (Screengrab)

Warren said he expects the city to have about 50 pieces of equipment working throughout the weekend.

Warren said the storm earlier in the week didn’t trigger a residential plow as the city received 10 cm of snow instead of the 15 cm required for a plow of Category 5 (residential) roads.

However, Warren acknowledged the city still received several calls about blocked impassable residential roads.

“We have spent a considerable amount of time over the last number of days on some of those residential roads where they’ve been blocked or had some severe drifting of snow, and making sure that we’re making those open and passable,” Warren said.

Read more:

• Regina snowstorm nearly doubles service at Carmichael Outreach
• Man taken to hospital with serious injuries after snowmobile flips in Saskatoon
• B.C. man dies in collision with semi near Regina