Hamilton digs out as weekend ice storm impacts still being felt

Hamilton is recovering from the weekend storm that pelted the city with freezing rain, ice pellets and high winds, causing power outages, dangerous driving conditions and some flooding. 

The winter storm that began Saturday and lasted late into Sunday hit much of Southern Ontario. It even led to some cancellations on Monday.

The agency says the storm began early Saturday and ended Monday around 8 a.m.

According to Environment Canada, Hamilton airport reported 11 hours of ice pellets Saturday and six hours of ice pellets mixed with freezing rain Sunday.

Eight hours of freezing rain and normal rain followed Sunday night.

The agency says there was a "maximum packed" ice pellet depth of 15 centimetres, with a total rainfall equivalent of 74.2 millimetres.

Environment Canada also reported wind gusts of up to 87 km/h Sunday afternoon.

Among the storm's impacts and ongoing effects: 

• A shutdown of the city's water plant Sunday.
• The city's water treatment plant put on "bypass" where sewage and storm runoff flows directly into the harbour without being fully treated. 
• Large buses taken off the road by the HSR.
• Suspension of bus service up or down the escarpment for part of Saturday.
• More damage to the city's waterfront trails, both in the west Harbour and along the Beach strip.
• Flooding along portions of the Ontario shoreline in Stoney Creek and along Beach Blvd. 
• The southbound off ramp at King Street on the Red Hill Valley Parkway is closed because of erosion concerns.
• Localized flooding and ponding on roadways in several areas throughout the city.
• The breakwater structure at the west harbour marina also sustained some damage, and as a result some of the docks in area require repairs.
• The Chedoke Radial Trail is closed between Chedoke Golf Course and the Scenic drive entrance because of erosion and debris.

Two men were hit by a falling commercial sign Saturday while the city was under a wind warning due to gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour. 

A 58-year-old man was seriously injured when the sign came crashing down and a 54-year-old received minor injuries. The man was reported Sunday as being in "stable" condition according to police.  

The Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) is warned of significant flooding and shoreline erosion along portions of the Lake Ontario shoreline in the area of Windermere Road in Stoney Creek. 

In a statement the HCA says it was made aware that residents were evacuated from the area.

It said, "conditions are expected to be the result of the recent and continuing strong shore-bound winds and associated storm surge and wave action."

The HCA warned resident in the area on Sunday that the "the high winds, high water levels and wave action overtopping the shoreline pose significant erosion, flooding and public safety hazards.

 'An unprecedented event'

At a city council public works committee meeting Monday morning, Dan McKinnon, general manager of public works called the storm "an unprecedented event."

"We saw delays with some of our HSR routes. We had some buses that got stuck and then some situations where some of the roads were impassable, which created delays for our passengers," said McKinnon.

The city was asking people to say off the roads unless it was absolutely necessary to travel.

At one point Saturday the Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) suspended all routes going up and down the Mountain due to the road conditions.

The HSR reported many delays and on Sunday announced that only 40-foot buses would be on the road while the 60-foot articulated buses would be staying at the garage because the "40-footers handle better" on days like Sunday.

All lanes on the southbound off ramp at King Street on the Red Hill Valley Parkway have been closed until further notice due to an assessment of a bridge structure.

Many side streets still haven't been cleared according to councillors.

At Monday's meeting, Ward 6 Coun. Tom Jackson demanded the city take care of the streets.

"I need to have assurances, please, that by the end of day shift today, if not afternoon shift, that the residential courts will be cleaned," said Jackson.

McKinnon said private contractors do the side streets and there may have been issues getting them to come out. 

"They're still dealing with the event itself," McKinnon told CBC News.

Motorists are being asked to park their cars off the street wherever possible for road clearing because the city says the roads are safer and more effective if there are no parked cars along the streets.

The city is also asking people to not push or shovel ice or snow into the roadway and should also ensure that fire hydrants on or near their property are kept clear. 

The storm likely damaged Hamilton's waterfront trails too, McKinnon said. But he's not sure how much.

Much of the Waterfront Trail was closed for four months last year when the city experienced heavy flooding. Parts of it are still closed. McKinnon expects the storm made that situation worse, although "we haven't had a chance to get down and inspect it yet."

McKinnon says forestry crews were out a number of times with downed trees because of heavy winds and fallen limbs.

Outages 

Many Hydro One customers were without power. 

Power outages began Saturday morning in St. Catharines, affecting over 15,000 people as of Sunday.  

Residents in Stoney Creek were also affected by the outage. As of Monday morning, less than 20 customers in the Ancaster area have been impacted by the storm and have experienced outages. The estimated restoration time is Tuesday around 11 p.m. says Hydro One.

At the Woodward Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant bypasses were initiated because of the increase in volume of stormwater was too much for the plant. That means some sewage and stormwater is flowing into the harbour without being fully treated.

Director of Hamilton Water, Andrew Grice, isn't that uncommon in major storms. 

"This week's storm is certainly a big event, but we do also bypass at various times throughout the year when we have similar types of rainstorms," said Grice.

Grice told CBC News bypassing started around 9 p.m. Sunday as the ice and snow turned into rain. The plant was still bypassing Monday afternoon and Grice expects it to continue into the evening because he says just because the rain has stopped, doesn't mean the flow has stopped. 

The high water flow also had the water plant shut down for about 10 hours Sunday. During this period, the city was relying on reservoirs that are strategically scattered throughout the city says Grice. 

"With all the wave action we're seeing out in the lake over the weekend, we actually shutdown our water plant for a period of time and that's just because all the waves were creating a lot of that dirtier water — doesn't mean we can't treat it, it just requires more chemicals and is harder on our equipment, so we had the ability to shut the plant down for a period of 10 hours this weekend," said Grice. 

Closures

There were many closures on Monday as a result of the storm, including the closures of both the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board and the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board.

Over the weekend, post-secondary schools closed their campuses because of poor weather conditions.

McMaster University postponed exams that were scheduled for Saturday to take place April 22. The university was also closed on Sunday "due to inclement weather and ice."

Both Brock University and Mohawk College also closed their campuses Saturday. Brock re-opened on Sunday at noon and Mohawk remained closed. Brock says exams postponed by the storm have been rescheduled for April 26.

All YMCA Child Care Centres throughout Hamilton, Burlington and Brantford have been closed Monday.

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