Roads within the city of Stratford reopened Saturday morning, but the City of Stratford has advised residents to be cautious.
Roads were closed in and out of the city due to poor road conditions and drifting snow. The ongoing Winter storm has created dangerous driving conditions, the City said in a release.
The City said it reevaluated the weather this morning, and after consulting with Stratford Police, the City lifted the temporary road closure for all city streets. Because of continuing strong winds, drifting and poor visibility in some areas, the City strongly urges motorists to stay off the roads as much as possible.
Snow plow operators are working around the clock to clear city streets, and will continue to do so. Fewer cars on the streets will help them do their jobs quicker, more efficiently and more safely, the City said. It will take longer than usual to clear all city streets and it could be a few days before the plows reach many local roads.
Stratford Transit and Parallel Transit buses will not operate until it is safe to do so, and PC Connect buses have also been cancelled.
The City's Social Services outreach team, and partners at the Connection Centre, were actively engaging with individuals living rough or unsheltered ahead of the storm, encouraging them to seek shelter, and have discussed safety plans with those individuals who may remain unsheltered.
The after-hours on-call number for emergency accommodations is 519-272-2294.
Perth OPP advised this morning that all county roads were still closed as of Saturday morning.
West Region OPP said there were more than 500 accidents reported in the region as of early this morning. Numerous accidents were reported on roads throughout the impacted area including multi-vehicle and pile-up incidents on Highway 401.
Blizzard conditions continued this morning throughout the region, and, even if roads were open, travel would be difficult to impossible. Environment Canada noted winds of 90-100 km/h and 25 to 50 centimetres of snow by Sunday morning. Hydro outages were reported in the region this morning.
In a release, the County of Perth said all PC Connect Routes are cancelled for today due to inclement weather. For more information, call 1-888-465-0783. Unless otherwise noted, regular service will resume on Tuesday, Dec. 27.
The storm even impacted last minute shoppers as the Stratford Mall was closed today due to inclement weather.
In St. Marys, the landfill and Pyramid Recreation Centre were closed today (Dec. 24) due to the Winter storm. The closures allow municipal staff to focus on clearing snow from roads and sidewalks, following the Town's declaration of a Significant Weather Event on Dec. 23. All other Town facilities were already scheduled to be closed due to the Christmas holidays, except for the St. Marys Train Station. The station will operate as usual, as trains are still running. Travellers are encouraged to watch the VIA Rail and GO Transit websites for updates.
The Town said missed garbage and recycling collections from Dec. 23 will be picked up on Dec. 27. Any updates or changes will be posted to the Town's Facebook and Twitter
