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Winter weather hammers Langley

More snow is expected on Wednesday evening.
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Brookswood resident Mike Totten tackled icicles after finishing shovelling his driveway yet again Tuesday morning. Residents were digging out.

On Tuesday morning, Mike Totten of Brookswood was just finishing the latest round of shovelling his driveway, and knocking icicles off his house.

“I could be done with it!” he said of the repeated snowstorms that have hit Langley since December.

The family doesn’t have a snowblower, he said.

“We’ve been considering it, oh Lord, we’ve been considering it!”

Totten is one of thousands of Langley residents who spent the weekend through the middle of the week digging out and dealing with the disruptions of a series of snowstorms.

With more snow and possibly freezing rain expected for Wednesday, locals and officials were preparing for one more blast of winter before warmer temperatures arrived.

Langley’s public and private schools were closed on Monday and Tuesday. On both days, the decision was made the evening before to hold a snow day.

District spokesperson Ken Hoff said the decision was based on the fact that facilities workers just didn’t have enough time to clear all the school parking lots, driveways, and sidewalks.

There is a possibility of early dismissal if weather turns bad in the middle of a school day, Hoff said. If that happens, students would be supervised at school until parents could pick them up.

Langley Township opened some of its public facilities as “Snow Camps” Monday and Tuesday, offering emergency care for kids aged Kindergarten to Grade 7.

Other kids headed outside, and many hills around the Township had families out sledding.

Meanwhile, Langley City and Township were both working to keep the roads cleared.

“We got hammered,” said Kyle Simpson, manager of the City’s engineering operations.

PHOTO: Charlene Hewitt sent in a photo of her street, where neighbours helped dig out a vehicle. She said she's had enough of the winter wonderland.

 

But as of Tuesday, crews were working to clear secondary routes and the City had a good stock of salt and sand.

Langley Township, with many more miles of road, was taking advantage of the respite on Tuesday, said roads operations manager Brian Edey.

“We’ve got trucks hauling salt in as fast as we can get it,” Edey said.

Over the last weekend, the Township used 1,600 tons of salt – about equivalent to what they normally use all winter.

They’ve stocked up again to almost 2,000 tons.

More backhoes and road graders have been put into service against the snow, and clearing intersections is a priority.

“People were sliding through stop signs,” said Edey.

Some of the Township’s newer staffers, with just a year or two of experience, are learning fast about snow clearing, Edey said.

Right now, Edey isn’t concerned too much about dealing with more snow. He’s worried about rain, freezing or otherwise.

“Our biggest issue is going to be finding catch basins,” he said.

The grates that collect storm water are blocked with giant piles of snow in many places.

Some have been marked during the warmer months with yellow tags on the roads to make them easier to find.

 

 



Matthew Claxton

About the Author: Matthew Claxton

Raised in Langley, as a journalist today I focus on local politics, crime and homelessness.
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