Chaos reigns on the roads and highways during snow storm

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Emergency crews were kept hopping Sunday as mother nature hit the Southern Interior with a major dump of the snow, the first huge dump of the winter.

A severe winter storm warning was issued by Environment Canada Saturday predicting 10 centimetres of snow in the valley bottoms and up to 40 cm on the mountain passes.

Highway and road conditions throughout the region were nasty; the plows couldn’t keep up with the continuous snow fall.

Dozens of vehicles hit the ditch or rolled over throughout the region, but so far, no reports about anyone getting hurt badly.

Sicamous RCMP Const. Patrick Pyper says he had responded to six car crashes by early afternoon.

“Just a bunch of people driving too fast and icy road conditions and not paying attention,” he says.

The latest crash involved six vehicles in a chain reaction. The Trans Canada was shut down for over 90 minutes, and during that time one of the vehicles waiting in line caught fire, Pyper says.

“They put it out with a fire extinguisher,” he says.

Highway One about 10 kilometres of a Sicamous is open as of 5:20 p.m., but to single lane, alternating traffic, according to the Drive B.C. website.

At the Revelstoke RCMP detachment, Const. Mike Esson says he was kept busy Sunday with car crashes too. He agreed drivers were going too fast and landing in ditches.

Drive B.C. says the stretch of the Trans-Canada west of Revelstoke will be closed between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Monday for avalanche control.

For the very latest road conditions go to the Drive B.C. website.

The snow meant flights were cancelled or delayed at the airports in Kelowna and Kamloops.

The ones happy with the winter storm will be ski resorts, along with skiers and boarders.

Big White Ski Resort had recorded 10 cm of snow by the end of the day Sunday, with more expected overnight.

Both Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops and Penticton’s Apex recorded 20 cm of new snow.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca or call 250-491-0331. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.