Article content

Help is on the way for a snowed-in Cowtown.

The City of Edmonton announced Tuesday afternoon that it would send support to Calgary, which remains under a snowfall warning after some areas of the city had as much as 15 to 20 cm of snow accumulate overnight.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Send in the plows: City of Edmonton extends helping hand as Calgary remains mired in snow Back to video

“We’re a winter city and we understand the challenges of unexpected snowfall,” said Janet Tecklenborg, Edmonton’s director of infrastructure operations for parks and roads services in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Tecklenborg said that 30 plows will roll down the highway to help our “sister city,” along with 60 staff and a few supervisors. The request for help from Calgary arrived Tuesday afternoon, and so the staff and equipment were departing Edmonton as soon as preparations could be made.

Tecklenborg said she expects the plows will be used for about 24 to 36 hours to help Calgary get ahead of the snow.

She said this is the first time in city staff’s recent memory that Edmonton has dispatched equipment to help another community with an unexpected snowfall, though the city did provide aid to Calgary during severe flooding in 2013, and also to Fort McMurray during the 2016 wildfire that tore through the northern Alberta city.

Tecklenborg commended the snow removal crews who volunteered to make the last-minute trip to Calgary, and said that although there isn’t any snow forecast for Edmonton, there will still be plows in the city should the capital be struck by an unexpected storm.