City recovers from storm

A thin sheet of ice settled over much of Sudbury in a 12-hour period, but for the most part, it's business as usual around the city today.

Residents found themselves chipping away at the ice that formed around their vehicles early this morning, but after yesterday's weather forced the closure of many business and services throughout the city, it seems things are getting back to normal.

The Ontario Provincial Police closed down all highways leading into and out of Greater Sudbury yesterday morning, but had reopened them by early afternoon.

It came as no surprise that buses were cancelled for all school boards in the area both yesterday and today. Adding to that, schools in the Sudbury district urged parents to pick up their children early, as weather conditions were expected to deteriorate throughout the day.

On the same front, Cambrian College, College Boréal and Laurentian University closed their campuses for the afternoon.

Even Greater Sudbury Police Service shut down all essential services, including the Collision Reporting Centre.

In a 24-hour period, a total of 11 collisions had been reported to police. The majority of those calls were redirected to the Collision Reporting Centre, and those that required a police presence were attended to with a lot of caution, said Const. Meghan O'Malley.

None of the collisions resulted in injuries.

“Eleven is still 11, and luckily no one was injured,” O'Malley said. “We put out a number of releases to encourage people to keep their driving safe, and hopefully we got that message across and prevented some collisions.”

For the collisions attended to by officers, “obviously we have to be very careful getting there. We're not going to do any good if, on our way to a collision, we're involved in a collision. We have to respond to certain collisions, and if it takes us a few extra minutes to get there, then that's what it takes.”

In a tweet this morning, the City of Greater Sudbury thanked residents and the media for helping to share its weather updates on municipal services.

The city shut down all non-essential services, as well, and closed many of the outdoor recreational facilities.

Today, however, the city said it continues to respond to the recent winter storm. City crews and contractors are fully deployed and will continue until service levels are achieved.

Once roadways and sidewalks are cleared, crews will commence clearing bus shelters.

“We are still in response mode,” said Shannon Dowling, of the city's corporate communications centre.

The city reminds residents to keep roadways clear of vehicles so snow plowing operations are not impeded. Motorists are also reminded to drive according to road and weather conditions and exercise caution when travelling near or around snow plows.

Visit www.greatersudbury.ca for updates.

The Sudbury and District Health Unit closed all of its offices yesterday, and rescheduled any appointments planned for that day.

Health Sciences North said it was concerned of the impact yesterday's storm would have on staffing levels. As a result, HSN asked clinical staff who were already on duty when the weather started to take a turn for the worse to remain until HSN confirms appropriate staffing levels for shifts this evening.

No patient services had been cancelled, and staff contacted patients with appointments, asking if they wished to reschedule given the weather conditions, according to a news release.

Many other businesses and organizations shut their doors in the face of the storm, opting to send home their employees before the full force of the weather settled upon the city.