Politician in hard-hit county says NS needs bigger snowplows after historic storm – Winnipeg Free Press

HALIFAX — A senior politician in Nova Scotia's Pictou County said Thursday his municipality is still struggling to clear last weekend's heavy snow, partly because the area has been neglected by the provincial government.

“This has been a concern in the county for some time,” said Robert Parker, the county's superintendent. “It's a huge blow for us, but all eyes are on Cape Breton.”

Cape Breton, east of Pictou, received nearly 150 centimeters of snow and was the focus of provincial and federal relief efforts. But Parker said reports from Pictou County last weekend of 60 to 70 centimeters of snow would greatly underestimate how much snow had accumulated.

“It started Friday afternoon and it continued through the weekend and into Monday,” Parker said, noting that the area was actually buried in 90cm to one meter of snow during the high runoff. “We may not be as bad as other places, but even though we're improving, we're in a bad place.”

The ranger said earlier in the week the province's snow removal efforts were poor, but since then they have been helped by the arrival of large snow plows from New Brunswick.

29 county roads were closed Wednesday night. And almost all the roads in the district are under the control of the provincial government.

Prime Minister Tim Houston's Progressive Conservative government should start buying bigger equipment to deal with future “super storms,” ​​Parker said. “The trucks aren't heavy enough and there aren't enough of them.”

Houston noted Thursday that the province had cleared 200 roads Wednesday, even as some areas saw record snowfall. Another 50 were impassable by Thursday.

“We're going to have a discussion to discuss if there's anything we can do differently,” he said after a cabinet meeting in Halifax.

Public Works Minister Kim Masland said five percent of the province's snowplows have broken down in the past few days. “I don't think it's a very large amount given the weight of the snow,” he said.

His department confirmed Thursday that it had moved 113 pieces of equipment, some from private contractors, to the northern and eastern districts of the province.

Meanwhile, Parker Pictou County welcomed the arrival of 10 snowmobiles donated by the province on Wednesday. Each car came with two people from the Rubicon Canada team, a non-profit organization that helps communities recover from disasters and humanitarian crises. Snowmobiles are used to reach vulnerable people who cannot leave their homes.

“I spoke to a lady this morning (and) the snow is off her roof, right in front of her door,” the security guard said. “He cannot leave his house. Imagine if we had a fire.'

Mona Teed, a spokeswoman for the Victorian Order of Nurses, said nurses and continuing care assistants at the not-for-profit agency were in telephone contact with their clients at least daily.

Since the weekend, Teed said the organization has seen a sharp drop in the number of clients reporting being trapped in their homes.

“Staff are trying to reach out as much as they can,” said Teed, director of home and community care for Pictou and Cumberland counties. “More and more people have access.”

Still, he said, roads in remote corners of Pictou County remain rough, snow-covered and icy.

“Some roads still don't have a single lane open – it's completely snowed to get to the main road and you can't get in,” he said. “There are still people who cannot leave their homes, and we cannot enter their homes.”

Parker said he expects the roads to be cleared by Friday, but he's not sure if that will happen.

“At this point, we have to do everything we can to make sure we don't have an accident or lose someone because they didn't get what they needed.”

The provincial government says more than 1,000 people are working in Nova Scotia, using about 400 pieces of equipment to clear the snow.

Meanwhile, the province's opposition Liberal Party is calling on Houston to provide financial assistance to residents in Cape Breton and northeastern Nova Scotia. After post-tropical storm Fiona caused widespread damage in September 2022, the government announced a support package to help residents clean up their properties and overcome financial stress, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said.

“The prime minister ignored this storm and the result left thousands of Nova Scotians without the support they needed,” Churchill said in a statement.

“We have heard of people who are stuck in their old homes, unable to afford cancer and dialysis treatment. The least this government can do is respond to this storm as quickly as they did (post-tropical storm) Fiona.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 8, 2024.