More snow hits Toronto as city continues to clear roads

Toronto dealt with another blast of snow Monday as it continued to dig out from last week's storm. 

A winter weather travel advisory was put into effect, with Environment Canada forecasting between five and 10 centimetres to fall. 

Poor weather conditions could make it difficult to get around the city, and drivers should expect reduced visibility, the advisory said.

"Southwesterly winds over Lake Ontario are expected to enhance the snowfall rates, especially for areas closer to the lake shore," Environment Canada said in its advisory.

The warning came a week after the storm that hit the city on Jan. 17 caused major transit and driving delays. 

By Sunday, crews had removed more than 17 million kilograms of snow from Toronto roads, according to city officials. Cleanup operations from last week's storm are expected to last for several more days, according to a City of Toronto news release.

Officials say crews are concentrating for now on clearing areas with limited room for snow. So some areas with "wide boulevards," like Scarborough and North York, will have to wait because they have "sufficient capacity" to keep the snow on the ground for now, the release says.

But some Torontonians are still struggling in areas that haven't been cleared.

In southwest Scarborough, Katherine Hoy had to call an Uber Monday morning to get her kids to school because they couldn't walk on the sidewalks.

"People with strollers, or anybody with disabilities or young children, it's absolutely impossible to get by," Hoy told CBC News. 

Meanwhile, at least one city councillor is calling for faster snow removal.

"It's understandable that the City of Toronto had challenges with snow clearing soon after a massive blizzard. But it's now been a week, and many local roads across our city haven't been plowed and too many sidewalks are still impassible," Coun. Josh Matlow, who represents Ward 12, Toronto-St. Paul's, said on Twitter.

Matlow said he has written to Mayor John Tory and the city's manager of transportation services, "requesting an immediate strategy to ensure neighbourhoods are cleared," as well as a plan to raise service levels in the future.

"This affects every neighborhood in Toronto — our city needs to be safe and accessible to all," Matlow said.

The snowstorm also affected business owners around Toronto. Robert Sysak, the executive director of the West Queen West business improvement area, said it was a hard week.

"There was nowhere to put the snow because the city hasn't been able to take the snow away from the road," Sysak told CBC News.

Sysak said some restaurant owners in his area didn't open for takeout last week because no one wanted to take the risk of walking on sidewalks covered with snow.

"It was like an ice rink," he said.