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Blizzard brings Cape Breton to standstill with school, office closures

The blizzard that hit Nova Scotia was still raging in Cape Breton hours after the snow stopped on the mainland.

Schools were closed for the day, as were all federal, provincial and municipal offices. Many services were cancelled.

Canada Post cancelled mail delivery, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality cancelled curbside garbage collection, Transit Cape Breton buses stayed off the roads all day and the civic centre in Sydney did not open.

Hospitals around Cape Breton switched to providing emergency services only, which meant lots of tests and procedures had to be rescheduled.

Plows were out for hours working to keep main arteries clear, but snow quickly drifted back onto the roads.

Flights into and out of the J.A. Douglas McCurdy Airport this morning were cancelled, although afternoon and evening flights remained on the schedule. In advance of the storm, Marine Atlantic cancelled several crossings from North Sydney to Port-aux-Basques, N.L.

The airport reported 28 centimetres of snow by early afternoon, but drifts are much higher in some areas of the island and the snow keeps falling.

Most people seem to be heeding police advice to stay off the roads. There have been hardly any reports of accidents since the storm began last night.

While many Nova Scotians took a storm day, health-care workers didn't have that luxury.

Mike MacIvor helped his girlfriend — who works for the Nova Scotia Health Authority — dig her car out on Bentinck Street in Sydney.

"She has to go to work," he said. "They don't really give time off."

Greg Boone, a spokesperson for the health authority, said there are options for workers in the event they cannot get in to work.

"With certain approvals they can use vacation time in lieu or overtime or holiday banks," he said Tuesday.