City still working to clear snow ahead of big melt

The city says this week's milder temperatures will mean small changes to its residential snow removal plan.

Crews are into the second week of a planned four-week sweep of snow-clogged residential roads.

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Jessica Bell,who speaks for the city's Snow And IceControl program,says the extra weight of the melting snow might mean more front-end loaders will be needed instead of industrial snow blowers.

She says homeowners can help by clearing the area around catch basins on their streets.

You might see some pooling so we're asking Calgarians to just check their gutters and kind of clear those out so that when it gets colder during the evening hours, we don't see any ice forming there and it just maintains more safety for everyone.

Shawnessy resident Alfred Langille was out Tuesdaycreating a water channel so the melting snow would have somewhere to go.

"I'm 81-years-oldheart-attack, pacemaker, I've got so many problems that at any moment I could drop dead doing what I'm dong right now," saidLangille.

"Just trying to unblock so that the water doesn't build up here and go all the way across the road."

Even though the snow is quickly melting, the city says it's committed to removing all the snow from hard-hit residential streets.

More than 200 pieces of equipment, a mix between cityand privately-ownedvehicles, are working to clear the snow away.

"This is awesome," said Shawnessyresident Steve Clarke.

"It depends on how much more snow we're going toget, but it's nice to see the city's doing something about it because I know that a lot of people are unhappy."

The city has a map on its website that allows you to see when snow removal crews will be in your neighbourhood.