Between Feb. 3 when the snow started falling and Feb. 9 when it stopped, a grand total of 100.2 cm fell on Campbell River, according to Environment Canada.
During the seven-day snow storm, four snowfall records were broken including 27.8 cm on Feb. 8. The previous record snowfall for one day at this time of year was 21.8 cm on Feb. 7, 1969.
With that much snow, came car accidents. Since the beginning of February, North Vancouver Island Traffic Services has responded to three collisions with minor injuries and property damage, said Craig Blanchard, NVITS spokesperson. Sara Clark, of the Campbell River RCMP, said they responded to 23 traffic collisions between Feb. 1 and Feb. 12.
Before the snow began to fall, city crews were out applying salt and sand to prevent icy conditions and improve traction at intersections. Drew Hadfield, the city’s transportation manager, said once the snow began to fall crews were working around the clock to clear it.
Altogether, over the nine days, city staff put in 1,000 hours of plowing, sanding and clearing roadways, Hadfield said. And the equipment travelled over
7,600 km in total. To put that in perspective, Campbell River has 460 roads totalling 240 km that city crews were responsible for clearing.
