WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017
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What’s inside:
NEWS: Another dog owner files complaint against kennel 5 n Despite the record snowfall in Richmond and across the region, people still found a way to negotiate the West Dyke Trail. Photo by Eric Harvey
Snowfall causes chaos
Record dump of white stuff brings vehicles, trains to a halt Graeme Wood
Staff Reporter gwood@richmond-news.com
T
wo days of record snowfall, a weekend of flurries highlighted by thunder snow and a freak storm during Monday’s rush hour in Richmond challenged the best of drivers, shut down the Canada Line and kept city crews working around the clock. And worse may be on the way. All in, YVR recorded 31 centimetres of snow since Friday. On Friday and Saturday, the airport recorded 12 and 10.6 centimetres, respectively, breaking the previous daily records of 10.7 and 5.8. Trains on the Canada Line became stuck heading north on Friday and Monday nights. On Monday night, TransLink shuttled passengers over the Oak
Street Bridge with buses. Some passengers chose to walk across the bridge, between Bridgeport and Marine Drive stations. Richmond News’ director of advertising, Rob Akimow, was in the stalled train. He said TransLink staff kept passengers well informed, people remained calm and, within 90 minutes, a rescue train had arrived to pull his train back to Bridgeport. However, Akimow said no assistance was offered once passengers disembarked. On Friday, the Canada Line was shut down when, according to one passenger, sparks could be seen from the windows as the train headed north from Aberdeen station. At Bridgeport, passengers were told to disembark and that buses would take them to Downtown Vancouver; however, the wait
n This driver got fed up and took matters into his own hands at the railway crossing on Alderbridge Way and Shell Road.
was extremely long and many took cabs. The snow also hampered car traffic in and out of the city Monday, with accidents on the Alex Fraser and Arthur Laing bridges
causing major delays. Adding to the confusion on Tuesday morning, commuters were blocked from crossing the train tracks near Shell Road at Alderbridge Way, when lights began flashing and barriers came down, despite the fact no train was coming. After a lengthy delay, some people began lifting a barrier to let others through, while others directed traffic through the flashing lights. Despite calls to 911, there appeared to be no authority taking charge of the situation. This is the second time in a week that lights were flashing and a crossing was blocked for no reason during rush hour, with the intersection of Westminster Highway and Shell causing issues. See Snow page 3
COMMUNITY: Retired doc and his wife make record hospital donation 6
SPORTS: Future is bright for basketball girls in Richmond 15
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