City of Greater Sudbury says it could take weeks to finish cleanup after historic snowfall

City officials in Greater Sudbury say crews are working day and night on cleanup efforts after a historic snowstorm buried roads, sidewalks and laneways — but residents should expect disruptions to last for weeks.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, city staff and emergency services provided an update on public safety, emergency response and snow removal progress following the storm, which began late Sunday and continued into Tuesday, dumping more than 40 centimeters of snow.

Mayor Paul Lefebvre said the city’s initial goal of making at least one pass on every road was delayed after some graders became stuck in hard-hit areas, particularly in the city’s southwest.

“I know people have been very, very frustrated and I understand that frustration a lot, but it’s not for lack of effort,” Lefebvre said, adding that all roads have since been been cleared at least once.

Snow removal crews are now moving into second passes and widening roads, a process that could push snow back into driveways.

“Now we’re going to get to the second pass and we’re going to get full again. That’s going to be tough because people have just cleared their driveways and there’s more snow coming as we push the snow around,” he said.

He added that large snowbanks may take about a week to remove.

“They’re too high and it’s dangerous. We all get that. But first is to get traffic through,” Lefebvre said, adding that removing the snow on sidewalks is a major challenge.

"The amount of snow on our sidewalks, our equipment is not made for that... [it's] made for two feet of snow. We have four or five feet of snow and it's very heavy and crusted with ice. So we're going to be really challenged. I know the crews are looking at how we're going to address that," he said.

Deputy Fire Chief Nathan Melin said fire services saw a sharp spike in carbon monoxide-related calls in the days following the snowfall.

“Over the last three days, we’ve had a large increase in responding to carbon monoxide or gas leak calls,” Melin said.

He said heavy snowfall and drifting snow blocked furnace vents at many homes, preventing fresh oxygen from entering and creating dangerous conditions inside.

Melin said fire services responded to approximately 30 carbon monoxide-related calls over a few days, far above the usual two or three calls on an average day.

“Thankfully, there was nobody that was ever transported to hospital or required medical assistance for a majority of the calls,” he said, crediting working carbon monoxide detectors for alerting residents in time.