When Bharanisai Madhusudhan stopped at the grocery store on his way home from work Tuesday afternoon, he expected the trip from Vancouver to Surrey to take him about 45 minutes.
Instead, it would be nearly 12 hours before he arrived home.
“If I had walked to my home, I would have reached there about four hours earlier,” he said.
Madhusudhan was among a gridlock of drivers trapped in their vehicles as a fierce storm blanketed much of British Columbia’s south coast and Vancouver Island with up to 25 centimetres of snow, causing traffic chaos, power outages and airport delays.
Several crashes blocked the Alex Fraser Bridge, one of the main arteries over the Fraser River, for hours.
Madhusudhan said he could see the bridge from his spot in the traffic jam, but there was no way for him to turn around.
He says he saw drivers travelling with infants and spoke to one senior who was worried about running out of his medication. Abandoned vehicles on the side of the road suggested some people had decided to leave their cars and walk.
The frustration from drivers was palpable, he said.
“Actually, it was scary because the last thing you want to do is get stranded on the top of a bridge and just wait for a towing vehicle, which was also not possible because a lot of towing vehicles were stranded as well,” he said.
While those looking in from the outside might say those drivers shouldn’t have been on the road, Madhusudhan said that’s not possible for many people.
“I get that, you know, but it’s bread and butter for us as well. We didn’t really want to travel, but we didn’t have an option. We have to go to work,” he said.
He said the government could have done a better job preparing for the storm that it knew was coming and of notifying people when the bridge was being shut down.
Officials with the Ministry of Transportation were expected to provide an update on the situation Wednesday.
Environment Canada lifted snowfall warnings Wednesday for Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver but was predicting up to 10 centimetres more over the Fraser Valley and along the Sea-to-Sky corridor between Squamish and Whistler.
Snowfall warnings for parts of southeastern B.C. remained with another 15 centimetres forecast, and wind or arctic outflow conditions were also posted for the north and central coasts.
Rising temperatures around Metro Vancouver aided snowmelt, helping crews clear the many buses, trucks and cars stranded overnight by the icy conditions.
By Wednesday afternoon, BC Hydro said it had restored power to most of the 93,000 customers who had their power knocked out by the storm.
Officials at Vancouver International Airport said the EVA Air jet that skidded off a taxiway after landing late Tuesday, had been removed within hours, allowing the north runway to reopen.
No one was injured and passengers were taken off the plane and shuttled to the terminal on buses after being stuck on board for about three hours.
Power outages and treacherous roads also forced numerous school districts to cancel classes on northern and central Vancouver Island and in the Fraser Valley.
Environment Canada data shows temperatures across the south coast were expected to dip below zero again by Wednesday night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2022.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
