The city says the heavy snowfall has caused a lot of damage and the mayor says cleanup could last days if not weeks.
"We have deployed what we are calling jumbo crews and there are a dozen of those jumbo crews, which are crews with colleagues from waste, from parks and from roads, and they're going to be deployed overnight, from now through the night, to priority areas," said Mayor Nenshi.
Plows and sanders are trying to stay ahead of the snow and emergency officials are reminding drivers to take extra time and slow down.
"Try to avoid the afternoon rush hour. If we can spread demand out through the afternoon rush hour that would help everyone. There are still a number of intersections including some key intersections, including Edmonton Trail on my way here, where we still don't have power to the lights," said Nenshi.
Ken Uzeloc, CEMA director, says that the city's emergency operations centre was opened at noon on Tuesday due to the large amount of weather-related calls to 311. "Many of these are trees damaging property, blocked roadways, and trees that've caused power outages. We are seeing those outages continue over night."
Officials estimate that about 2000 trees are down across the city.
“Although we’ve been working throughout the day to address all the downed tree priorities and the roadway issues, we anticipate working well into the evening,” said Uzeloc, “Regional parks and regional pathways are closed. They’ve been closed due to some safety concerns that we have found in those areas.”
Uzeloc says local parks are open but people are advised to use extreme caution and be aware of hazards.
Mayor Nenshi says some will be surprised when they see the damage but the first thing is about safety.
"If you are not in a situation of immediate danger, don't do anything today. Don't do anything tonight, let's wait until the snow has melted. Let's wait until the situation is a bit more clear."
He says if a branch has fallen on a power line and you see sparking, call 911. People should call 311 if they see branches hanging over power lines but no sparking.
Citizens can take debris to the landfills free of charge and are asked not to load it into blue or black carts.
ENMAX has been dealing with a number of outages across the city and says about 30,000 people are without power.
You can stay up to date on outages by checking their website or Twitter feed.
Environment Canada says the snow is expected to stick around the area until the evening.
