Mississauga spent nearly $2 million to clean up after historic winter storm

January’s historic winter storm that dumped 45cm of snow on Mississauga and even more amounts in other parts of the GTA cost the City of Mississauga nearly $2 million to dig out from, City officials say.

The Jan. 16-17 storm resulted in the most snow Mississauga has received in a single 24-hour period since 1944, when the city was known as Toronto Township.

In a report to City council, transportation and works staff noted that the historic accumulation of snow, a large number of cars that were left parked on the street and difficulty finding replacement contract snow plow drivers combined to make things difficult for the City’s cleanup efforts.

The price tag to clean up after the storm was $1.8 million, according to the 2022 Major Snow Event Post-Operational Report.

Staff says those factors prolonged the event longer than normal as roads had to be tended to multiple times to get the snow cleared.

With too many cars left parked on the street, snow plows weren’t able to complete clearing those roads on their first go-around and had to return later.

Additionally, the report points out the inability of contractors to provide sufficient replacement drivers so snow plows could run in the overnight hours.

So, staff said, snow-clearing equipment sat idle for up to eight hours before the driver could return to work after finishing a required eight-hour break under provincial rules.

City officials say the shortage of extra drivers delayed service by as much as 24 hours.

In the days immediately following the huge winter blast, Mayor Bonnie Crombie praised Mississauga winter maintenance crews for their efforts in clearing the snow from major and secondary roads.

Still, numerous residents across the city became stranded in their homes by huge windrows of hard, chunky snow and ice that blocked many driveways and residential courts.

They flooded City councillors with calls and emails wanting to know when the snow would be cleared.

Windrows are the collections of snow left at the bottom of driveways–and sometimes at the entrance to streets and courts–after snow plows clear the main part of the street.

Mickey Frost, the City’s director of works operations and maintenance, said at the time that Mississauga deployed hundreds of snow-clearing vehicles in the wake of the major winter blast.

He also noted at the time that while there were some challenges, winter maintenance crews performed well.