After the snowfall that has hit Greater Montreal in recent days, the City’s loading operation will begin on Sunday morning.
Posted at 3:16 p.m.
The snow loading operation will be launched at 7 a.m. for most boroughs. For some sectors, snow removal will take place in the evening on Sunday. In all, some 3,000 employees and 2,000 trucks will be at work dealing with the fifteen centimeters of snow that fell earlier this week. “We are confident of being able to finish this in about four days,” said Philippe Sabourin. The City expects to have cleared major thoroughfares by Tuesday evening.
The Info-Neige mobile application can be used to check the status of the snow load live. During this type of operation, the most important thing is that citizens make sure they have moved their car, recalls Philippe Sabourin. “Each time there is a tow, it delays us,” he illustrates.
The fewer cars towed, the faster priority areas can be cleared, such as entrances to hospitals, schools, commercial thoroughfares, as well as access points for public transport. But there are also narrow streets, adds Philippe Sabourin. “What we want is for our emergency services to be able to move around without any obstacles,” he explains.
This snow removal operation is the third this year, following a first carried out in December and a second in mid-January. There are on average five to six such operations during a winter, estimates Philippe Sabourin.
Snow next Saturday?
Snowfall could fall next Saturday on the metropolis, indicates Katarina Radovanovic, meteorologist at Environment Canada. “But it’s possible that the system avoids us,” she says.
During the night from Thursday to Friday, nearly five centimeters of snow are expected for the North Shore of Montreal, says Katarina Radovanovic. As far as Montreal and the South Shore are concerned, this precipitation could change to rain.