WATCH: Another snow storm is snarling transportation and stranding travellers on parts of Vancouver Island. Calvin To reports.
Across parts of Vancouver Island, roads were a nightmare Tuesday morning.
“I saw cars spinning out, I saw cars flipping over on to their side and going into the ditches,” said cab driver Dave Sunder.
Heavy snow fell throughout much of the day, reducing visibility for those on the roads, and in the air.
The Victoria International Airport receiving record snowfall by Tuesday morning.
More than 50 centimetres had fallen by the morning, surpassing the previous record of 39.4 centimetres in 2014.
“There’s also similar weather conditions elsewhere. Vancouver, Seattle, all through the network. And so if those places are experiencing delays and cancellations that would affect flights coming and leaving here,” said Rod Hunchuk, director of business development at the Victoria International Airport.
Conditions forced half of all flights to be cancelled yesterday, and dozens more today.
“I thought there was a chance that it would be winter. I took a warm coat, but I didn’t know that it would be this big a storm,” said stranded traveler Ashley MacIsaac.
At Swartz Bay, ferries were running on schedule after some sailings were cancelled yesterday due to poor road conditions.
B.C. Ferries says crews came in early Tuesday morning to make sure the roads were clear and safe for passengers.
Elsewhere, buses were also affected. B.C. Transit reported delays on every route and cancellations on some.
“To have multiple snow days are pretty unheard of in Victoria,” said David Guthrie, B.C. Transit’s general manager of Victoria operations.
“We take it in stride, but it’s certainly something that we’re not as equipped for as some of the other larger centres across Canada.”
And all this snow is costing districts a lot of money.
Last week, the District of Saanich spent about $25,000 of its annual $182,000 snow clearing budget.
Calvin To
