Snow storm causes slew of crashes in Ottawa
A snow storm expected to drop 15 centimetres of snow proved to be a headache for commuters in Ottawa, causing more than 90 crashes in the Ottawa area from midnight Thursday to early Friday evening.
None of the crashes led to serious injuries, according to Ottawa police.
OC Transpo is reporting delays on many of its bus routes and the Ottawa airport is grounding a number of flights as conditions worsen.
Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning, with up to 15 centimetres of snow expected Friday.
CBC Ottawa climatologist Ian Black said windy conditions are make driving treacherous.
"I think the main concern today is the snow with the wind which is going to whip around at 30 to 50 kilometres per hour and this is going to reduce your visibility and create white-out conditions," said Black.
"I think the travelling today is going to be really tough at times," he said.
The City of Ottawa also announced an overnight on-street parking restriction where vehicles were not allowed to park on city streets between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. to allow snowplows to clear the roads.
School buses in Ottawa and much of eastern Ontario were cancelled Friday in response to the expected snowfall.
The Ottawa Student Transportation Authority said buses for the region have been cancelled, including buses to schools in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Ottawa Catholic District School Board.
Buses for the Upper Canada District School Board, Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario and their corresponding French-language boards were also cancelled.
The Student Transportation Authority of Eastern Ontario also cancelled buses across its region.
The schools remained open.
Buses on the Gatineau side were running Friday.
While Ottawa expected about 15 cm Friday, the Kingston and Tweed areas expected between 15 to 25 cm of snow, according to Black.
An Ottawa city official said the fact the majority of snow fell during the day Friday is a complicating factor.
"It's not coming at the best time with the morning and afternoon commute," said Jason Staniforth, area manager of core roads.
