Dealing with the dump: Happy Valley-Goose Bay running out of space for all the snow
The town hasn't started February with this much snow on the ground since 1980
People in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L. are grappling with more snow on the ground at this time of year than some have seen in their lifetimes.
"I wont be barbecuing any time soon," Coun. Shawn Crann said, pointing at the pile of snow stacked up above his windows.
There hasn't been this much snow on the ground at the beginning of February since 1980, and people in the town are trying to figure out where to put it all.
And there's more coming. As of Friday morning, Environment Canada had a snowfall warning in effect for the area with 15 to 20 centimetres expected.
Wednesday's blizzard added 37 centimetres of snow to the mix and shut down most of the town for the day. The rough conditions prompted the RCMP to tell motorists to stay off the roads.
"As fast as you're putting it ahead of you, it's filling in behind you," Crann said.
"So the best thing to do in a situation like that is to have the less traffic on the roads as possible so the boys in the town can do their job."
The snow is really piling up in Happy Valley-Goose Bay!<br>There's 180 cm of snow the ground right now, which is the most to start the month of February since the record setting winter of 1980!<br>And there's more snow to come... <br>Picture courtesy: Annette Michelin<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nlwx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nlwx</a> <a href="https://t.co/pjFQp37zAC">pic.twitter.com/pjFQp37zAC</a>
—@ryansnoddonCrann said there is $630,000 in the budget for this year to deal with snow, and as the year just began, they are well within it.
But with a lot of winter left to go, he is hoping the town doesn't have to resort to more expensive means to deal with the huge piles that are already appearing around town.
"If it gets too too high, in certain parts of town where there's lots of traffic congestion... we can truck it," Crann said.
"It's not something we budgeted for."
Stacking up the snow
"We're doing our best to keep everybody happy but at the same time it's getting a bit hard to find places to put the snow," Jamie Abbass of A & M construction said.
He runs a construction company which also offers snowclearing services in the winter.
"The stacks are going higher and people's driveways are getting more and more closed in," Abbass said
"So a lot of people want us to cut the banks off and push the snow somewhere else, but at the same time you have to be wary of neighbours."
Abass said heavy snowfalls like the one on Wednesday mean more work clearing snow – but it can also affect the construction projects they have on the go.
"A typical snowfall, like the one we just had where it was a blizzard... it would probably take three days of snowclearing on our equipment," he said.
"We have to then manage expectations for our work sites where we have to have a bit of time away and a smaller workforce in order to manage."
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