Ready and Resilient: peek behind the scenes of a Significant Weather Event

[guest]

Today marks the start of National Public Works Week, a time for the City to recognize the hard work being done to manage and maintain our traffic and transportation infrastructure, parks and natural assets, waste, water and so much more. This year’s theme is Ready and Resilient.

Over the past few years, our Public Works employees have shown resilience in the face of numerous challenges, never failing to provide the services that Ottawa residents rely on. You might remember Significant Weather Events being introduced earlier this year. The City announced it would begin declaring extreme weather for the first time this past winter; Mother Nature got the message and sent not one, but two Significant Weather Events our way – the first bringing 48 centimetres of snow and 50 kilometres/hour winds to Ottawa over two days in January.

So, what happens when Ottawa gets hit by a Significant Weather Event? While you might see the snowplows out clearing sidewalks, roads, and the winter cycling network, a lot of work is happening quickly behind the scenes and across multiple operational groups in Public Works to get life in the city back to normal as quickly as possible.

Peek behind the scenes

Preparation for a Significant Weather Event starts well before extreme weather hits. Public Works employees monitor multiple weather service providers on a constant basis so that teams can be adjusted and readied year-round. This January, employees rallied quickly to call a Significant Weather Event in advance of the blizzard, giving residents a heads-up of the incoming snow, anticipated travel challenges and a necessary parking ban.

These situations are dynamic and no two are the same, so it’s “all hands on deck” for Public Works employees.

In the lead-up to the snowfall, communications between all Public Works teams and their many internal partners were established quickly. Everyone understood their role before the first snowflake appeared, and employees coordinated to send news of the Significant Weather Event and parking ban through multiple channels, including the 3-1-1 call centre, social media, City Council and the winter parking e-alert.

Meanwhile, some Public Works employees were busy working out the operational details, like:

• Determining how many additional equipment operators might be needed to handle all the snow
• Scheduling shifts that would run for the duration of the storm and ensure a continuous effort
• Double-checking that equipment was in working order
• Putting mechanics on standby – just in case
• Coordinating quickly to delay curb-side waste pick-up by one day, knowing that removing waste collection vehicles and bins from the road would be a huge help

Some Public Works employees who were trained to use specialized equipment were pulled from their usual work in other areas to help clear snow from the sidewalks, while others worked to plow hundreds of parking spaces at City facilities, offering residents longer-term off-street parking options and improving roadway snow-clearing.

Throughout the Significant Weather Event, there were Public Works employees monitoring the transportation network via the Traffic Control Centre, adjusting traffic signals and dispatching snowplows to high-volume intersections or problem areas as needed. And, of course, there were employees dedicated to updating the public and the media, no matter the hour.

It takes a lot of coordination, effort and dedication to make sure things go as smoothly and safely as possible during a Significant Weather Event. Thankfully, Public Works employees are ready and resilient.

Related articles:

What you can expect during a Significant Weather Event

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