Orange-level storm hits Hamilton, crews working to clear roads

The City of Hamilton says it’s deployed 500 pieces of equipment and operations staff to battle this storm. They are asking you to stay home if possible. Fewer cars on the road means they can plow through the mess easier.

The roads were pretty bad today, visibility low but snow plows and crews were out in full force tackling the storm brought today.

“We prioritize the main routes in the city with a focus on escarpment crossings,” said Mike Field, with Hamilton Public Works.

Environment Canada issued an orange level weather warning today due to the amount of snow expected to drop in the next 24 hours.

The City of Hamilton is asking people to avoid parking on the street, and when shoveling your driveway, dump it on your lawn, not the street.

“We’re receiving a significant amount of snowfall in this case and that means from an operational standpoint we’re going to have some challenges keeping up with that weather,” said Field.

“We like to wait for all the plows to go through so that we can get the windrows at the end of each driveway,” said Kris Vandershee.

Vandershee owns a snow removal service with plows deployed in Hamilton, Dundas, Binbrook, Ancaster and Caledonia. Vandershee has seen his fair share of storms. In fact, business is so good now that he’s booked for the season, only taking emergency clients.

READ MORE: ‘Orange’ winter storm warning issued for Southern Ontario: Environment Canada

“The biggest storm that we dug ourselves out of had to have been the winter of 2022. That was the last big event that came through. I think we received about a foot of snow, and that shuts down the entire city,” said Vandershee.

Of the people CHCH News spoke to in Ancaster today, the snow hasn’t impacted their day too much. They have their system. They get out their shovel and just do it. But for one family, it might ruin a family wedding.

On any other snow day Josh Windsor would just plow his driveway and go about his day. Not today. He’s thinking about Mexico and how a group of 25 family members are going to get there for a major life event.

“I’m supposed to go to Mexico tomorrow. We got our flight got cancelled. We’re not exactly sure,” said Windsor.

For Chrystal Welsh down the street, she doesn’t love the snow but loves the trip down memory lane.

“I don’t love snow but I’m loving this because I’ve got two younger kids and I remember all the fun we had when we had snow when we were younger,” said Welsh.

READ MORE: Major winter storm could dump 50 cm of snow on GTA, disrupt Monday commute