With Spring just hours away, snow removal crews and residents in Nova Scotia are rushing to clean up before another storm hits the region on Saturday.
On Friday, officials continued to ask residents to find parking off city streets; otherwise they could be towed or ticketed.
Halifax transit says all busses are running today and passengers can ride free until the end of Sunday.
Garbage collection in Halifax was cancelled for Friday, but the city says solid waste will be picked up in two weeks and residents will have double the normal allowance.
Some Maritimers aren’t waiting for Municipal crews, they’ve banded together to help get the job done.
A small army of residents on First Avenue in Middle Sackville, N.S. decided to clear the snow from their street together Thursday evening.
They say they haven’t seen a plow since last Sunday’s storm.
“This is our neighbourhood’s effort to get out of here,” says resident Jennifer Whytock. “It’s been two days and we decided we needed a way out. Everybody came together and all plowed this entire street. There’s been at least a dozen people who’ve come out to help.”
Other neighbourhoods in the province are making similar efforts.
Despite record-breaking snowfall amounts for the month of March, the Mayor of Halifax, Mike Savage, insists a State of Emergency isn’t necessary for the time being, but he admits it was on the table.
“I understand where the calls for a State of Emergency come from,” says Savage. “I’ve asked those same questions myself, but when you sit around the table, like the one I have, with professionals – from fire and from police and operations and transit, EMO and all those organizations – and they tell you they can get the job done without declaring a State of Emergency, then it’s a fairly easy thing to do.”
The mayor adds that additional steps have been taken to deal with all the snow that has been piling up in the city.
Halifax Municipal officials expect the total cost of the cleanup to put the city nearly 10 million dollars over budget.
