The winter of 2021-22 just keeps on giving. And it’s only just begun.
The wallop of snow overnight Wednesday and into early Thursday morning hit most of the Island hard, including the Chemainus area. Some people were reporting as much as a foot of snow falling in less than 12 hours.
Chris Carss, who provides statistical information for Environment and Climate Change Canada from his Chemainus home, will provide exact amounts of snow that fell during the latest storm in the days ahead.
It took a considerable amount of time for municipal crews to get around to every area to plow the roads. As always, the priority was to plow the major routes first.
“But when it snows this hard, it can sometimes be a losing battle, and no matter how many resources we throw at it, it may look for a while like we’re not ‘keeping up,’” conceded North Cowichan Mayor Al Siebring in a Facebook post.
But it was great to see friends and neighbours step up all around the region to plow driveways and walkways for others or provide a helping hand for those who needed assistance in some way to handle the snow and get around.
Now we just have to get through the huge melt, as the weather transitions back to rain for the days ahead. The fear, of course, is flooding in some areas if the rainfall is heavy and the snow can’t melt slowly.
Residents have been sending in numerous photos of how the huge snowfall looks in their area. Many more will be printed in the Courier’s next edition on Jan. 13.
