Some P.E.I. schools still closed as province continues to dig out from winter storm

It will be the end of this week before sidewalks are fully cleared of snow in Charlottetown, and work on secondary roads in rural areas is ongoing.

The province is dealing with the aftermath of a four-day storm that dropped 60 centimetres of snow in Charlottetown and more than 80 centimetres in parts of Kings County.

Schools east of Summerside are closed for a third day. Some Holland College campuses are also closed while UPEI announced it would open Wednesday.

“Our schools have been able to make great progress with snow clearing,” the Public Schools Branch said in social media posts just after 6 p.m. Tuesday . “However, there are a number of schools which will require an additional day before welcoming everyone back in a safe way.”

Five families of schools are affected: Bluefield, Charlottetown, Montague, Morell and Souris.

With temperatures still well below freezing, there remains the possibility slippery conditions could persist with ice on roads and sidewalks.

Plow dispatchers told CBC News at 7 a.m. Wednesday there were still parts of rural P.E.I. where extra caution was required on the roads.

In Kings County, where the storm hit hardest, most routes were open Wednesday morning but narrow.

In Queens County, work is underway to widen major intersections and knock down drifts to improve sight lines.

In Prince County, back roads are narrow and conditions are icy in some locations.

Snow started falling on Friday, and about 60 centimetres of snow fell in Charlottetown over the weekend and through Monday, and as much as 82 centimetres was measured in Kings County. That made the work particularly difficult in the province’s central and eastern regions.

In Charlottetown, the city asked drivers to avoid the downtown area on Tuesday and take another route if they see heavy equipment working ahead of them.

“Although the winter parking ban isn’t officially in effect during the day, please avoid parking on the streets so our crews can work quickly,” the city said in a midday social media post.

 

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