Busy day for Thunder Bay police, hydro, fire as city starts digging out after winter storm

The winter storm that blew through northwestern Ontario on Thursday and into Friday morning brought over 30 centimetres of snow in many parts of the region andhas caused hundreds of power outages in the last 24 hours for thousands ofresidents in the city.

• Winter storm warning in effect for Northern Ontario

"We've had 29 centimetres of snow at the airport ... [but] as we head east along LakeSuperior the amounts are even higher.For example, Marathon is up to 40 centimetres of snow and there's still a bit left," Environment Canada metrologist Gerald Cheng explained.

He said the snow started early on Thursday morning and "it wouldn't let go" until earlyFriday morning.

"Eastern Lake Superior, the snow is still falling right now, so we're waiting for the system to exit the area, but pretty much it was a full 24-hour event," Cheng said.

While residents in the city are busy shovelling their driveways and clearing their vehicles, Cheng said there's another system thatis expected to arrive on Sunday and into Monday.

"You are not going to get another 30," Cheng said."It's going to be lighter."

• Environment Canada keeps 'eye on another system nearby' in northwestern Ontario

Meanwhile, officials at Thunder Bay Hydro say crews are continuing to work throughout the city on Friday to restore power.

"We had several outages overnight [and] at the height we had about 13,000 customers out. It was for a short period of time but lots of people were affected," said Thunder Bay Hydro customer service manager, Andy Armitage.

He said the heavy wet snow "caused a lot of trees to come down," affecting hydro power lines as well.Hydrocrews are slowly making their way around the city and are expecting to have the power restored by Friday afternoon.

"Right now we have a lot of small pockets still out," Armitage explained. "They are scattered throughoutthe city [and] we are slowly getting them back up one by one."

High number of calls

As the snow continued to fall throughout Thursday night, officials at Thunder Bay Fire Rescue saythey've had a high volume of calls related to "electrical power hazards," in the last 24 hours.

"With the heavy snow and ice on the power lines, it weights them down," Thunder Bay Fire Rescue platoon chief, John Kaplanisexplained. "They're falling down onto the trees [and] trees are falling down overthe power lines so we're getting some hydro lines sparking and power outages all throughout the city."

He said they received over 36 calls thus far and are expecting more in the next 12 to 24 hours.

Residents are encouraged to call 911 first if they spot a fallen power line, Kaplanis said, and avoid getting near it.

"Number one, we don't want them to get closer to have a further investigative look. Just leave that up to Thunder Bay Fire Recuse or hydro staff to do that," Kaplanis said. "Just take a look from afar, visually, and stay away from any hydro lines that are down, even if they aren'tsparking."

Busy day for police

Officers with the Thunder Bay Police Service have also had a busy 24 hours helping drivers who were stuck in the snow, responding to collisions and assistingcrews during hydrorelated issues.

"Between December 27and 28, Thunder Bay Police Service have responded to 14 motor vehicle collisions ... that does not include anything that's coming through the self-reporting centre," Thunder Bay Police Service media coordinator, Scott Paradissaid.

He said starting at about 9:30 p.m. officers started to responded to issues relating fallen power lines and trees.

While the storm has passed through the city, officers are still reminding motorists to drive with caution as there are still a lot of snow and ice on the road.

"The conditions are still winter, so drive according to those conditions ... and prepare for the worst out there because there's still a lot of snow, there's still a lot of ice and everybody should be really cautious about that."