Prince George, B.C. – The  warm temperatures and  a deluge of rain have  created an  interesting switch in work  for the City of Prince George .

A week ago, the City was prioritizing snow removal, and  this week, it has its Utilities Division focusing on  opening up catch basins to catch the run- off from the  rapid melt.

With the ground frozen and lots of water with nowhere to go,  Public Works  Associate Director Gina Layte-Liston says Utilities  Crews  have been  dealing with  areas that are known to be “problematic” when it comes to  pooling water.  “Our Utilities division is busy out clearing catch basins by steaming them, doing some  manual work on them so the water can  flow properly” says Layte-Liston “Also, our Streets crews are busy  opening  ditches,  and clearing out any  lanes or gutters.”

One of the areas which has been particularly susceptible to pooling,   is  a bend on Massey Drive, near the YMCA. “Our crews  generally try to get out to those ( problematic areas)  if we see this kind of weather system coming to clear those catch basins, so they have to be prioritized to see where  any puddling is occurring.  It also helps us, where residents are concerned, that they contact us if there is some puddling in  an area.”

Although much of the snow  has melted, Gina Layte-Liston says  people may be  noticing there has been less snow  stored in laneways “That storage in those  lanes, we are trying to get at that right away so that  isn’t occurring, the roads division is also  working on that clean out so we have less  difficulty with the puddling.”

By this time Friday,  the temperature is expected to make a major shift  back to more seasonal norms and that will  cause  a whole new approach to streets to keep them  free of ice, or,  sprinkled with traction materials “Our roads division will  move into using different types of brine solutions   to allow for the  melting  of ice on the roads, and will also be looking at sanding.”