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  2. CITY RESPONDS TO HEAVY SNOW STORM THIS WEEKEND

CITY RESPONDS TO HEAVY SNOW STORM THIS WEEKEND

For immediate release: April 26, 2015 - 1:09 pm
TU15-191
The City of Saskatoon responded to the wind, rain and nearly 20 centimetres of wet, heavy snow that fell between Saturday noon and Sunday at 3:00 a.m. 
 
Snow & Ice Road Maintenance
City crews have been out in full force salting, sanding and plowing the high-traffic streets, keeping them clear for drivers, since the initial drop of rain on Saturday morning. 
  • On Saturday, nine sanders were on the road, applying salt and sand, as required.  Plows and contract graders joined them in the evening to keep the high-traffic streets clear until midnight when the snow appeared over.
  • Another ten centimetres of snow fell early Sunday morning, and plows were out on Circle Drive, while contract graders attacked the other priority streets.
  • The focus for Sunday is grading roads where melting snow is slower and trouble spots, such as busy intersections and corners, to keep roads in good winter driving condition.
  • Street sweeping and pothole patching is currently on hold; watch for updated schedules.
 
Currently on the roads are:
  •  2 speed plows on Circle Drive, pushing the slush of the centrelines and shoulders
  • 1 belly plow – also sanding
  • 4 PW graders on priority streets
  • 12 contractor graders on priority streets.
 
Light & Power Service Area Outages
Current Outages
  • Saskatoon Light & Power and Parks crews are responding to reports of downed trees in power lines and other power line issues that are causing outages. 
  • Power was restored in Queen Elizabeth, Holliston and City Park.
  • Power Outage Service Alert Updates are available at saskatoon.ca-service-alert and on Twitter @YXEServiceAlert.
  • Once the current issues are resolved, we do not anticipate further outages with the weather forecast.  Residents should call 306-975-2621 to report any downed lines or tree limbs in power lines.
Background
Sunday, April 26
  • Reports of outages started this morning at 4:20 a.m. with the following affected: Avalon, Adelaide/Churchill, Nutana, Nutana Park, Holliston, Haultain, Mayfair, Westmount, Caswell Hill, Hudson Bay Park, Mount Royal, City Park and Queen Elizabeth.
  • Heavy snow weighing down the power lines and broken trees were causing most of the outages. One line issue can affect parts of multiple neighbourhoods. 
  • Crews were out working as quickly as possible to address each location, including tree trimming around lines.  Adelaide/ Churchill and Nutana Park were repaired and restored by 9 a.m.
Saturday, April 25
  • At approximately 4:40 p.m., 20 west-side neighbourhoods supplied by seven substations within the Saskatoon Light & Power service area experienced a power outage. 
  • The outages affected traffic lights and many City operations and services, including the website and telephone servers, and the Saskatoon Landfill, which closed 15 minutes early at 5:15 p.m.
  • Continuous timely updates were provided on the City’s Twitter and Facebook channels, which were shared by our followers in their networks, and used by news reporters for online and offline reporting to the general public.
  • Three Saskatoon Light & Power crews worked as quickly as possible patrolling the lines in those areas to determine the cause.
  • While the exact cause of the outages are not known, two weather-related incidents were discovered that may have overloaded the system, tripping the feed from the Queen Elizabeth Power Station that supplies the affected substations.  Heavy winds and frozen rain caused overhead lines along Preston Avenue to gallop (wave back & forth) and an insulator iced up at a separate location.
  • These locations were isolated and repaired, and the substations were brought online beginning at 6:35, restoring power to the following neighbourhoods within 15 minutes: Central Industrial, City Park, Downtown, Holiday Park, Kelsey Woodlawn, King George, Meadowgreen, Montgomery, North Park, Pleasant Hill, Richmond Heights, Riversdale and Southwest Industrial.
  • The Edmonton Avenue substation experienced a technical issue coming online, which delayed restoration until 7:30 p.m. for Airport Industrial, Caswell Hill, Hudson Bay Park, Mayfair, Mount Royal, Westmount and Westview.
  • The website was online just after 9 p.m.; network system issues were resolved by 11 p.m. with access to Service Alerts for power and water outages.
  • Later Saturday evening, another repair was required due to weather conditions, that required a substation to be restarted, resulting in a brief outage in Riversdale and parts Caswell Hill just before midnight.
  • Without the website server, SL&P was unable to issue Power Outage Service Alerts, which are featured on the home page of the website and posted automatically on Twitter. 
  • The City uses Service Alerts for timely notifications of unplanned service disruptions to Water, Power, Leisure Centres, Waste Collections, Landfill, Compost Depots, Road Restrictions, Street Sweeping schedules and Snow & Ice road maintenance. 
  • The City’s mass notification system, NotifyNow, is currently only used for emergency situations to alert residents by geographical area where threats to life and safety exist.
Saskatoon Transit
  • Buses are operating on Sunday reduced schedule, with no delays.
  • Separately, issues are anticipated with the Online Trip Planner Sunday, April 26 only.  The following Route information may not display correctly for #1, 3-6, 17, 50, 60, 70 and 80. Passengers are asked to call our customer service centre at 306-975-3100 to confirm these routes (today only).
 
Other City of Saskatoon Services
  • While some facilities experienced power outages, no major interruptions were experienced.
  • Facilities such as the Water Treatment Plant and Wastewater Treatment Plant have back-up systems in place to prevent interruptions.
What happens when all of this snow melts?
  • While we accumulated 8-12 inches of snow, once it melts it compares to 20-30 mm of rain.  Given the forecast for low temperatures Sunday and Monday, this is expected to melt slowly over the next two or three days.  Our storm sewer system is designed to take in more than this, so we don’t anticipate any flooding beyond some localized ponding at a few intersections.
The City thanks everyone for their patience during some of these interruptions.
For more information about the City’s Building Better Roads maintenance programs, please visit saskatoon.ca/betterroads.  Find timely Service Alert updates to service such as Snow & Ice and Power at saskatoon.ca/service-alerts