Sydney, N.S., slammed by second major snowstorm in as many weeks

Even if people tried to get onto the Cape Breton roads and highways Wednesday, they couldn’t get far.

The Sydney, N.S., area was blasted with another major winter storm overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning, just days after digging out from an historic 150 centimeters of snow dumped last week.

"It almost seems cruel, doesn't it? It is cruel,” said Sydney resident Joe MacIntyre while shoveling nearly waist-high snow from his driveway.

After last week's dig-out of epic proportions, homeowners found themselves trapped on their properties once again.

"Oh, I have a whole day's job if not more at least by tomorrow; picking at it, making it wider,” MacIntyre said. “I had a snowblower, but it broke."

  Across town, a group of men had to shovel their car out of a roadway. Theirs was one of several vehicles that got stuck or stranded along highways and in the middle of roads.

Cape Breton Regional Police, along with tow trucks and plows, had to help free several vehicles.

"Top of mind right now is just keeping people off the road if they can”, said Jenna MacQueen of Cape Breton Regional Municipality communications.

While plows were out clearing the highways and main roads, MacQueen said some side streets might have to wait — like they did last week.

However, unlike last week’s storm, the municipality did not declare a local state of emergency.

MacQueen added that the municipality remains challenged by where to put all of the snow, though they did receive federal approval earlier this week to dump snow into the Sydney Harbour.

Amid all the snow clearing, it was perhaps easy to forget Wednesday was Valentine’s Day.

"Yeah, it's not your typical Valentine's Day,” said Melanie Corbett of Lotherington’s Flowers in Sydney. "However, we were on top of the game and got the majority of our pickup orders out the door Monday and Tuesday."

Meanwhile, students in the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education got to stay home from school for the sixth time in the past eight school days.

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