Maritimes dig out, Saint John makes progress on snow-choked streets

Duke Street in uptown Saint John., N.B. after one of the most recent snow storms. (Julie Molasky / MyNews)

HALIFAX -- Crews have removed more than 1,600 truckloads of snow from the snow-choked streets of Saint John, N.B., in the past day.

The city is asking drivers and pedestrians to avoid the city's southern peninsula, where 70 trucks and other heavy equipment are navigating through the narrow, slippery streets.

Saint John has been under a local state of emergency since Tuesday when a storm dumped almost 30 centimetres of snow atop the almost 100 centimetres already on the ground.

Saint John had to cope with another 15 centimetres of snow as another storm moved through the region late Thursday.

That storm has dumped heavy snow across Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and western Newfoundland.

Schools across Nova Scotia were closed for the day and Charlottetown was digging out from under another 29 centimetres of snow.

In Cape Breton, provincial offices were closed Friday and the Cape Breton District Health Authority scaled back some services, maintaining emergency and diagnostic imaging services.