Icy, slushy roads cause crashes, closures

CTV Atlantic: Snow and rain make for melted mess A sudden spike in temperatures has turned snow to slush on the sidewalks, and roads into pools of running and standing water.

A sudden spike in temperatures has turned snow to slush on the sidewalks, and roads into pools of running and standing water.

Police in Nova Scotia are warning drivers to proceed with caution due to the poor road conditions.

A section of Nova Scotia’s Highway 103 shut down around 6:30 a.m. after a woman lost control of her car and crashed.

Firefighters spent nearly an hour trying to free the woman using the Jaws of Life.

She was taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

The inbound lanes of Highway 103 between Hammonds Plains and Hubley reopened just before 7:30 a.m.

Melting snow combined with rain made for a slow and slippery drive for morning commuters. Heavy fog also resulted in traffic tie-ups in some areas.

Pedestrians are also struggling with wet, icy, and in some areas snow-covered, sidewalks.

“I have my rain boots on today to help deal with the massive puddles, but then, because there are a lot of ice patches, I also have my snow-ice grippers on,” says one Halifax resident.

Glen Creed has been busking in downtown Halifax for 18 years and he’s finding it tough to get around on his mobility scooter.

“It’s pretty rough out there today because I came from the North End down here to Spring Garden and over around the high school. It’s pretty bad.”

There are also concerns about flooding in some areas as large snow banks from the weekend storm are blocking storm drains.

“What we’re trying to do is keep them free from the slush, because as the water is flowing, the slush comes down and clogs them up again,” says HRM spokeswoman Michaelyn Thompson.

The streets in Saint John and Moncton are also hard to navigate, while falling ice is a concern in Sydney.

An apartment building was evacuated in Sydney after a chunk of ice fell from a transmission tower and through the building.

Most schools were closed in Cape Breton Tuesday due to slushy and icy roads. All classes were cancelled within the Strait Regional Cape Breton-Victoria Regional school board.

The Nova Scotia Community College’s Marconi Campus in Sydney is also closed for the day.

The Halifax school board closed the Duncan MacMillan, Eastern Shore and Musquodoboit Rural schools on the eastern shore.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw and The Canadian Press