Spring storm blasts Calgary
Posted Apr 29, 2010 11:57 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Winter has returned with a vengeance to southern Alberta.
Calgary and the surrounding area is being blanketed by snow. Up to 10cm is expected in the city, while the foothills are expected to get up to 50cm!
Wind is not helping, with gusts up to 70km/h in some areas.
Calgary police say they have responded to more than 130 crashes over a 24 hour period, 11 involving injuries.
Sean Somers with city roads tells 660News they would love to hear from drivers who come across a major problem, just call 3-1-1.
RCMP are not recommending travel on the QEII Highway north to Edmonton, because of poor visibility, drifting snow and snow-covered lanes.
Vehicles are scattered about in ditches.
Thousands of students are getting a snow day. Schools in the city are open, but buses have been delayed.
Schools in many outlying areas have been closed.
The spring blizzard is also wreaking havoc on operations at Calgary International Airport.
Dozens of flights have been cancelled on both the arrivals and departures board.
Travelers are being told check with their airline on the status of their flight and those headed to the terminal are being urged to give themselves extra time to get their because of road conditions.
Electrical repair crews are being kept busy.
Fortis Power reports tens of thousands of its customers in areas from Red Deer South to the US border are without power.
The outages are not just because of downed power lines, but also problems reported along transmission time.
Calgary’s electricity provider ENMAX is also reporting some power outages affecting all parts of the city, with the biggest problems in northwest.
The storm is expected to clear out overnight, with a high of 7C Friday.
