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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday December 20, 2008 - 3 Snow-mageddon dumps on Oakville By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Environment Canada called it `Snow-mageddon' and while it may not have been as apocalyptic as the name advertised, Friday's snowstorm still caused plenty of headaches in Oakville. The estimated 15-25 cm snowfall caused both the Halton public and Catholic school boards to cancel all bus service throughout the day. However, students who could walk, or had other means of transportation at their disposal, received no long weekend as all schools for both boards remained open. The storm also resulted in the closing of all Town facilities and the cancelling of all recreational programs and services as of 2 p.m. on Friday, although it was noted the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts presentation of Rick Miller's MacHomer would go on as scheduled. With so many taking a snow day, the busiest people in Oakville on Friday were probably crews from the Town's Roads and Works Department, who were out in force plowing the streets. Given the nature of the weather, however, progress was hard to measure. "We're having some fun right now," joked Dan Cozzi, Director of Roads and Works Operations, Town of Oakville. "The problem we're having right now, as of about noon, is the blowing conditions, which are making it extremely difficult to plow. Right now we're only concentrating on main roads, just trying to keep them somewhat passable, but once the plow goes up it doesn't take much time before the wind blows the snow right back on the road." Cozzi noted that in a situation like this, the Town sends all of its big plows out to keep the primary roads, such as Trafalgar and Speers, moving until the storm is almost over. At that point, the plows focus on cleaning up the primary roads before moving on to the secondary roads that connect them. Residential roads come next. Cozzi said that given the ferocity of this storm, his snow removal crews will probably be busy with plowing throughout the entire weekend. "We've got sidewalks to do, as well. We will probably start plowing main and secondary sidewalks on Saturday and hopefully get them done and then we will move on to residential sidewalks," said Cozzi. "The problem is, there maybe some more snowfall on Sunday so before we have a chance to do residential sidewalks we might be back in the same boat again, which means we have to start the entire process all over." Despite slippery streets, Halton police are reporting no huge spike in weather-related accidents, but noted this could just be because many people decided to stay home. Halton Police Public Affairs Officer Brian Carr pointed out that this could change as the storm subsides. "I think the thrust of this will come tomorrow (Saturday)," said Carr. "Our recommendation is to stay home and if you have to leave, drive to the weather conditions. Slow down." KAREN NEWMAN / OAKVILLE BEAVER BATTLING THE ELEMENTS: Helen Sheenan clears the ice and snow from her car windshield in downtown Oakville Friday morning. MADNESS!!! ONE-DAY SALE 6am to 8pm Sunday, December 21, 2008 $ $8,000 2222 1.0 Carat Diamond Limit 2 per customer 12 Noon Door Crasher /ct Mississauga and Keele Location Only Mississauga 700 Matheson Blvd. at Mavis Vaughan 7733 Keele Street at Highway 7 www.omnijewelcrafters.com CALIFORNIA & PLANTATION SHUTTERS · Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed · Serving Oakville with Shop at Home Service · Wood & Vinyl Shutters, Supplied & Installed · High Quality at Affordable Prices Shop at Home Service Authorized Eclipse Shutters Dealer FREE SHUTTERS ETC. 905.691.4455 · www.shuttersetc.ca