The City of Calgary is picking itself up from a surprise snowstorm and continues the long process of cleaning up on Thursday.
ENMAX crews have been working through the night to catch up on the multitude of calls of downed power lines, restoring power to customers who had it cut off during a snowstorm on September 10.
Enmax reports that the power is still off for 1,800 customers.
The city reports that approximately 3,830 tree emergencies have been called in to 311 on both private and public property.
The thick flakes stuck to trees throughout the city, weighing down branches until it was just too much.
Thousands of trees have been damaged in the storm, missing limbs or even being split entirely in two.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi, speaking at a conference from the headquarters of Calgary's Emergency Management Agency, said that a lot of progress had been made overnight. "My colleagues at the City of Calgary have done enormous work as have the women and men of ENMAX throughout the night to make sure we're all staying safe. Again, priorities during the event are public safety, getting the power back on, clearing the roads. We made great progress on all of these things."
Nenshi says that the damage done to trees in the city will take a long time to repair, but the storm did not break the spirit of Calgarians.
He says that the debris clean up will take several weeks, but residents can do something to help. "What you can do now to help our first responders stay focused on the priority issues is, number one, work with your neighbours, work with your friends. If it's safe, you can start to pick up and take debris to City of Calgary landfills. If you have a truck and are willing to help out your neighbours, this would be a great thing to do. Landfills will accept all this storm debris at no charge."
As for services, officials say that all traffic lights are in working order with only a small handful working from generators.
City officials are working on a debris management plan to work on cleaning up. That plan will pay particular attention to downed tree limbs.
They are also reminding residents to prioritize their calls to 911 to emergencies only, where there is considerable risk to public safety or property.
Broken trees that have fallen onto private property are the responsibility of property owners and residents who are concerned about removing branches should contact an arborist.
Once branches are down, they should be cut up into piece, no longer than four feet, and placed on the ground near your black bin for pickup.
Nenshi stressed that residents should not put debris into bins because this would damage the bins or the equipment that processes waste material.
"You may also see some disruption to regular pick up over the next few days because of high collection volume."
Most importantly, Nenshi said that warmer temperatures are on the way for the City of Calgary. "We may get a little more summer before winter comes, so please enjoy the weather while you can."
The Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Catholic School Board say that all schools will be open for regular classes.
Some parks are closed because of debris from falling branches. Click HERE for park and pathway closures.
