Let’s face it, there’s always going to be problems that will spawn complaints during major weather events.
And the wind storm of Dec. 20, 2018 and the stretch of snowy days we’ve experienced in February are on the high end of the major weather scale.
BC Hydro had an enormous job to fix the damage and restore services to customers over a wide area during the wind storm. The way it went about the job wasn’t perfect, but most understood the challenges and felt there isn’t much else that could have been done differently under the circumstances.
Fast forward to the snow storms of the past week and it put the Municipality of North Cowichan on the hot seat for its handling of snow removal.
Its policy is to clear the major arteries first and then get to the side streets once that work is completed. The only trouble is it just kept snowing and plows had to revisit the main streets so many times the secondary roads got neglected.
In Chemainus, even the main streets were slow to be cleared. And the municipality simply dropped the ball on Willow Street.
Willow Street is, of course, a crucial thoroughfare through town but there was apparently a mix-up between plow drivers. Their attempts to clear were also hindered by too many cars on the street and in parking stalls.
There was nowhere to plow the snow so large sections were left or blocked off and eventually trucked away.
The municipality is aware of resident concerns and plans to review the procedure to see how the situation can be improved. That’s really all that can be asked now is to do better next time.
It was definitely an unusual situation with so much snow.
Of greater concern are the sidewalks that so many people rely on to get around. Most were impassable for seniors.
Only the concerted efforts of business owners and good Samaritans kept some pathways cleared enough for people to walk safely. Businesses suffered greatly because owners didn’t even want their staff members to attempt driving to work and then customers simply stayed away with such limited access.