Blizzard leaves P.E.I. with major cleanup

P.E.I. was cleaning up today after what many are calling the first big storm of the winter on Wednesday.

While most of P.E.I. saw between 20 and 33 centimetres of snow, the western part of the Island was particularly hard hit, with Miminegash recording the highest accumulation of 48 centimetres.

Winds were blustery all day with a peak gust of 95 km/hr recorded in Summerside

And freezing rain also added to the weather mix.

On Wednesday, snowplow operators were still trying to clear secondary roads after a gruelling day of plowing through a blizzard.

In western P.E.I., the storm forced plow operators to stay off secondary roads for much of Tuesday, says the province's Department of Transportation.

"It's not nice out there for 12 hours, fighting when you can't see it. It's a long day," said snowplow operator Roy Gorveatt.

More snow for weekend

"When you leave 20 or 30 centimetres accumulated on the road, when you can't get out there and open things up, it just makes it that much more difficult for them this morning," said Darren Chaisson, director of highway maintenance.

The department expects to have all roads cleared by Thursday, in time for another heavy snowfall that is forecast for Friday night into Saturday.

With road conditions still a concern Wednesday, both the English and French school boards decided not to take any chances and kept schools closed for a second straight day.

Colonel Gray High School's principal Kevin Whitrow says it wasn't good timing — with two snow days right in the middle of first-semester exams for high school students. But, he says closing school was the right call.

"From where we are, even downtown, there were no sidewalks open. There was a lot of difficulty moving around. The doors at the school, we shovelled those out this morning so the general public could get in. But it would have been tough to get to school on time," said Whitrow.

In Charlottetown, parking spots were snow covered and some businesses delayed opening.

"I helped push two or three cars here. Basically they got stuck. There's too much snow," said  Sohail Hashmi.