Emergency responders attend the scene of a multi-vehicle accident and fire near Crossfield, Alta. on Dec. 27. The area was experiencing fog and freezing rain.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Another round of ugly winter weather hit parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan this week, creating hazardous conditions along Prairie highways. The weather system produced both snow and freezing rain.
A slick coating of ice in communities such as Calgary, Medicine Hat and Regina turned some roadways into skating rinks.
Icy roads and blustery conditions were blamed for a fiery 20-car pileup on Highway 2 near Airdrie, north of Calgary. The crash, which occurred just after 10 p.m. Tuesday, left one person dead. Nine others were taken by ambulance to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, including broken bones. Photographs from the scene showed the twisted, charred wreckage of cars and trucks.
RCMP on Wednesday said a preliminary investigation found five sedans, four pickups, three SUVs, a van and a commercial vehicle with a trailer were involved.
“Roads are snow-covered and icy, and visibility is poor due to blowing snow and fog,” said the RCMP. The Mounties asked non-essential travellers to hang up their keys until the weather system clears.
Jeff McIntosh, a freelance photographer who works with The Canadian Press and The Globe and Mail, was one of the drivers involved.
He said there was a thick fog that made it hard to see the wreckage on the road ahead. “I ended up stopping right beside where the fire was and the fire just started to get bigger and bigger,’’ said Mr. McIntosh, who rear-ended a flatbed truck.
Mr. McIntosh, who was among many travelling home after a Calgary Flames game, received a couple of bruises, though his vehicle was totalled.
Conditions were no better in Saskatchewan.
On Wednesday afternoon, RCMP there reported that in the previous 23 hours, 59 reports of car collisions had been received, along with 37 non-collision weather-related reports, such as vehicles in the ditch.
The carnage included a collision with a tow-truck driver attempting a rescue.
In the accident on Highway 1, near Beverley, Sask., a tow-truck operator was attempting to hook up a stuck semi tractor-trailer truck when a second semi collided with it. Three people were taken to hospital.
“Our tow truck is extremely damaged and our operator was injured. He is currently recovering with his family by his side,” Low Cost Towing of Swift Current posted to Facebook on Wednesday morning. “Our tow family is shaken and can’t understand how this could happen.”
RCMP also announced that a Canadian Pacific train had derailed near Taber, Alta., southeast of Calgary, although it did not indicate whether weather had been a factor in the wreck.
Police said 11 rail cars derailed in various locations along Highway 3. CP officers were on the scene, and traffic on Highway 3 was directed to one lane east and west while cleanup continued.
RCMP said there were no reported injuries and that no dangerous goods were spilled. The police force is recommending that drivers slow down and adjust their driving to road conditions.
On the West Coast, Environment Canada announced that yet more heavy rain is on the way. Communities along the Georgia Strait are keeping a close eye on sea levels, as more exceptionally high tides – known as king tides – are due in the next several days.
King tides led to flooding in downtown Squamish on Tuesday. Floodwaters reached a number of the town’s businesses and left several parked vehicles partly submerged before eventually subsiding.
While multiple flood warnings have been rescinded for British Columbia, focus has turned to the mountains. Weak layering in the snowpack has led to dangerous conditions in the backcountry.
On Wednesday, Avalanche Canada issued a special public avalanche warning for B.C.’s Columbia Mountains, Glacier and Mount Revelstoke national parks, as well as the Northern Rockies. It will remain in effect until Jan. 2.
“The snowpack is currently in a precarious state,” said Simon Horton, senior forecaster for Avalanche Canada. “The storm cycles that hit Western Canada over the past weekend added significant snow on top of an exceptionally weak lower snowpack. This has brought the conditions to a tipping point where dangerous avalanches are likely.”
With a report from The Canadian Press
Nancy Macdonald