The snow squalls have ended and the wind has died down in Grey County, but road closure barricades were still in place this morning.
Kevin Craven is picking his way through the back roads to get to Toronto from Owen Sound.
“With Highway 10 between Dundalk and Shelburne still closed, coming down 40 just weaving around 12-foot drifts … continuing to do business and get into the Toronto area and get home again,” he says.
Several arterial roads south of Meaford were closed because snowbanks are encroaching on the roads. Heavy machinery was working to push back the snow today.
Grey County's director of transportation Mike Kelly says today is the first break in the weather road crews have had to try and catch up.
“Today is a bit of a reprieve for us because we can get out and do some of the after-the-storm work that includes cutting back the banks so the amount of drifting snow won't be as severe,” he says.
According to police, there were 52 car crashes in the area since Monday including a head-on collision between a car and propane truck on Highway 10 near Dundalk and a collision between a car and a transport truck on Highway 26 near Meaford.
The OPP’s Alina Grelik says it’s a miracle nobody was killed.
“Of all of the collisions we had, we are very fortunate that we had no fatalities and for the most part they were all minor collisions,” she says. “Most of the collisions were property-damage related.”
Today was a PA day in public schools so students had the day off after four consecutive snow days. The Holland Chatsworth Central School stayed open all but one day, even though the school was literally buried in snow.
Principal Yvonne McCutcheon is looking forward to getting back into the routine.
“We haven't had students here since last Friday … and we are looking forward to having them all back here on Monday,” she says.
John Sparling has been on the road delivering mail this week and says it’s been a “wild” time.
“What's it been like around Grey County the past couple of days? Wild, just wild, just unbelievable. Too much snow, too cold,” he says.
With high snowbanks being commonplace, the county is urging drivers to use extra caution at intersections until crews have a chance to move the snow.
