Robert Gallant, owner of Michael’s Pizzeria in Summerside, digs out the steps to the restaurant early Wednesday afternoon in anticipation of opening at 4 p.m.
But, by early afternoon, Prince County residents were busy digging out from a dumping of snow that prompted widespread cancellations and, for many Islanders, a day off work and school.
Robert Gallant, owner of Michael’s Pizzeria in Summerside, was busy out shoveling steps of the business at 1 p.m., after the storm appeared to have cleared and snowplows were back on the road.
Gallant was expecting to have his restaurant open by 4, noting that, given the morning’s weather and the forecast, doing so was a tough call to make.
The movement in the city early afternoon was in stark contrast to earlier in the day, when, shortly after 8 a.m., road conditions were poor, plows weren’t on the road, police were warning people to stay home, businesses were closed and there were few, in any, people to be seen travelling Summerside’s streets.
“Our salt trucks were first to be out on the streets very early this morning,” said the city’s director of communications Lorri Laughlin Wednesday afternoon. “Then our snowplows did their first run of the streets beginning between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
As early as Tuesday evening, flights in and out of the Charlottetown Airport were cancelled in anticipation of the storm.
Island schoolchildren got their first storm day of 2016, a midweek break from classes, as did those attending UPEI and Holland College.
All provincial government offices throughout the Island remained closed for the day.
All elective surgeries and ambulatory care appointments at Prince County Hospital, as well as public health nursing appointments in West Prince, Summerside and Souris, and speech pathology and audiology services province-wide, were cancelled for the day.
Credit Union Place remained closed, cancelling all morning activities, with an announcement expected at at 4 p.m. about evening activities at the complex.
Public health and family nutrition appointments in Alberton, O'Leary, Summersie and Souris were also cancelled.
Although the weather had cleared, many businesses and organizations, having made the call during the storm’s peak, remained closed.
The Salvation Army in Summerside cancelled all activities, including opening of its thrift store, soup kitchen, food bank, family services and the taking of applications for its home heating program.
The County Fair Mall, closed until noon, had some of its stores, including Sobeys, open later in the day.
“Salt trucks will be back out again after the first round of plowing is complete,” said Laughlin in the afternoon. “ A second snowplow run may happen later in the day depending on how much snow accumulates after our first run.”
For the most part, the majority of Islanders stayed home, getting at least a morning off work, if not the entire day, enjoying a the benefits of snow day.
They were posting on social media what they were doing, from marathon Netflix and television watching, playing in the snow, reading, munching on 'storm chips’, cleaning house and even taking naps.
There were those who, no matter the weather, were working, including nursing and doctors at various health-care facilities, including Prince County Hospital, police, and, of course, snowplow operators and those who own snow-clearing businesses.
Throughout the day, the P.E.I. Office of Public Safety was keeping Islanders update via its Facebook page.
Island RCMP, via Twitter, were also keeping the public informed on road conditions throughout the province.
