Snowy blast leaves roads and highways a mess in southern Alberta

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – The snow may have stopped in much of the Calgary region but there’s a lot of it out there, and the roads are still not good.

The city received 14.3 centimetres Saturday, short of the record of 17.8 set in 1970.

Crazy winter storm right now, blizzards lights flickering a lot #winterstorm #abstorm #snow #weather #blizzard #yyc #calgary pic.twitter.com/QZaPhkp4Jb

— Jonathan Lee Scholes (@Jonleescholes) April 28, 2019

Calgary police say they dealt with numerous crashes and spin-outs overnight.

Between 5 p.m. Saturday and 5 a.m. Sunday, CPS reports 109 non-injury, 18 injury and 20 hit and run related incidents.

Detective Shawn Rupchan says the roads continue to be slippery.

“Problem spots right now would be mostly on the on and off ramps of the major thoroughfares as well as the side streets within the city. Most plows haven’t got up into the residential areas so they are quite snow packed and, in certain areas, possibly even impassable depending on the type of vehicle you’re driving,” said Rupchan.

“I think what had happened is a lot of people had removed their snow tires, they thought winter was possibly over and now, on any sort of an incline (…) vehicles are unable to make it up.”

Stay safe everyone! #ABStorm #yyc @660NEWS @BTCityNewsCGY pic.twitter.com/rQPCQAoeZq

— Kristen Fong (@FongK10) April 28, 2019

Det. Rupchan says despite all the crashes, there were no serious injuries.

That was not the case to the west, where a passenger bus flipped on its side around 6 p.m. Saturday along the Trans Canada Highway.

Several people were taken to hospital with injuries ranging from serious to minor, and the road was closed for quite a while.

Another major incident saw RCMP called to the scene of a pileup on Highway 1 near Jumping Pound that involved four tractor trailers and eleven other vehicles.

Vehicles were also having major troubles getting up slick, slushy hills. The town of Cochrane opened up an emergency centre for drivers to rest until the storm passed.

https://twitter.com/JonMartinCalgar/status/1122470376695455745

Abandoned cars and trucks litter area roads and highways.

To the east, Chestermere Fire Chief Brian Pomrenke says there were power outages but the worst effect was on the Trans Canada Highway between his community and Calgary.

He says a number of people were stranded after hitting the ditch and it took some time for emergency crews to be able to reach everyone.

Pomrenke said there are steps drivers should take to stay safe if they end up in that situation.

“Your best thing to do is to stay in your vehicle, put your four-way flashers on, make sure that your exhaust is clear and just stay on the roadside until somebody can attend to you,” said Pomrenke.