The City of St. John’s says it will be in cleanup mode from Snowmageddon for the rest of the winter, but it is ready for tonight.
Eastern Newfoundland is getting a lot of glitter tonight on top of 10-15 cm of snow. Mayor Danny Breen says they’re going 24/7, and are ready for whatever Mother Nature throws their way.
Mayor Breen says the City is always prepared with its Emergency Preparedness Plan that they can put into place, if necessary, when more messy weather hits the province today.
However, the Mayor was very quick to point out that the Emergency Preparedness Plan and a State of Emergency are two different things altogether.
Mayor Breen says there are things that they’ve learned from the storm and an emergency response plan that operates well (used during Brier) – but the State of Emergency Act hasn’t been used and needs to be reviewed along with the provincial gov. @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/kyaVHMP8bP
— Ben Murphy (@VOCMBen) February 6, 2020
Breen believes the last time the city got major use of that plan was during the Brier 2017 wind storm. He says their Emergency Preparedness Coordinator is dealing with the Plan and working with various agencies involved to determine what may be necessary. However, he claims they’re prepared for any eventuality that occurs.
The Mayor says warming centres will be open for the public in the event of power outages.
Some 50,000 Employees Lost Time During State of Emergency
(Photo by Earl Noble.)
The numbers are in on Snowmageddon and it’s clear that it hit people hard in the pocketbook.
Statistics Canada says 50,000 employees lost work hours during and immediately after the storm as municipalities in metro declared states of emergency. In St. John’s, the restrictions lasted for eight days.
StatsCan says the 50,000 equates to 25.5 per cent of all employees in the province. Some were compensated with full wages while others were not so fortunate.
