With the warmer temperatures coming and snow soon to become a rarity, the snow removal teams are winding up their season.

Ted Devins, a Road Coordinator for the City of Airdrie, says that this season wasn't too terrible.

"We have a priority system and we work through that. Systematically, we get everything done so it wasn't too bad."

Now, however, is a difficult time of year. The melting snow creates flooding problems on the roads, so Devins' team has been out battling it.

"We have certain areas over the years, historically, that have drainage problems when you get a certain amount of snow in these areas. We like to try and clean those areas out to expose catch basins and what they call trap loads in these areas that all the drains migrate to. By cleaning these out ahead of time, when we do get the melt we're prepared. It kind of alleviates the pooling and flooding in these areas."

Despite a strangely early snowfall, Devins says the snow removal team was prepared and handled it well.

"The first part of the season, we didn't think we were going to get snow. Then, of course, we got a few events that gave us some snow that wasn't expected. The last forecast said 1-3 centimeters and I think at some parts in Airdrie we got up to 20 centimeters of snow."

"We were quite fortunate, actually. Our fleet department was prepared and a lot of our sanding equipment was up and running, whereas our neighbors had a different situation. I think Calgary (didn't) have some of their stuff available yet. I heard they were borrowing equipment from other communities to deal with that first event."

Going forward, Devins reminds locals to clear the waterways in front of their homes in order to prevent flooding.

"What would really help us out is, when you're shoveling your sidewalk, shovel it onto your lawn. Give your lawn a drink and not the street, is kind of what I say. Keep your catch basins exposed and open. If you could even expose some of the curbs in front of your house, that makes a world of a difference when it does start melting. Then, the water can flow. The water will cut through the channel you made and make it to the catch basin."

 

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