Cleanup underway following widespread road closures across midwestern Ontario

Every school in Bruce County was closed on Tuesday, CTV London's Scott Miller has more on conditions up north.

Almost everywhere you turned in Bruce County last night you came across a road closed sign.

At it’s worst more than 25 roads stretching from Tobermory to Stratford were closed due to poor visibility and heavy drifted snow. Snowplows were pulled off the roads along the Bruce Peninsula due to the vicious conditions, and police in southern Bruce County alone responded to more than 50 collisions or ditched cars.

“It’s been honestly a busy winter that we haven’t seen in years. Great news if you own a snowmobile. Bad news if you’re expecting your kids to make it to their school bus,” said South Bruce OPP Constable Matthew Thorpe.

Buses were cancelled across much of Midwestern Ontario today, and many schools in Bruce and Grey County were outright closed due to the rapid accumulation of snow and road closures.

Students in the Bluewater District School Board have had 18 ‘snow days’ so far this winter.

“That is pretty significant compared to what we’ve seen in past years. I mean in Bruce and Grey Counties we are accustomed to having quite a few snow days, but this year does seem to be a special one for some reason,” said Jamie Pettit of the Bluewater District School Board.

While most roads re-opened at some point today, some roads - especially those along the Lake Huron shoreline - remained closed due to heavy drifting. Hundreds of cars were left stranded on roadways overnight which only slowed down cleanup efforts.

“Our cruisers, they don’t float in the air unfortunately. They’re just like any other vehicle that’s on the road. So, if we can’t get to a place that we can get to you… hopefully you prepared before you [went] out to make the best of the situation,” said Thorpe.

For students and parents frustrated with the lost instructional and exam days, according to Pettit, making up that work is really decided on a school by school and class by class basis. There likely won’t be PA days cancelled or school year extensions to make up for lost time.

“The school year calendar is the same, as the PA days - those are ministry approved. So extending the school year calendar isn’t an option for a whole variety of reasons at this point. So, we kind of have to work within the parameters of what we have,” said Pettit.

These almost certainly won’t be the last ‘snow days’ for midwestern Ontario students or the final days of white knuckle driving - mother nature appears determined to remind us what an old-fashioned winter looks and feels like.