Liverpool FC Forum

[Igor Zidane]

Over a foot on the ground since last night, mate, and still falling.  We've got all your snow over here...get off your a.rse and come claim it!

Plenty of mooses about to keep you warm at night though Bob.

[daxy1]

Over a foot on the ground since last night, mate, and still falling.  We've got all your snow over here...get off your a.rse and come claim it!

Plenty of mooses about to keep you warm at night though Bob.

are you from birkenhead bob......... 

[Lando_Griffin]

Over a foot on the ground since last night, mate, and still falling.  We've got all your snow over here...get off your a.rse and come claim it!

You'd miss it if it went, never to return...

[Woollyback]

snow - is that that white stuff that used to happen in winter when i was a kid?

[Number 9]

[Number 9]

Some fresh snow i robbed off Bobs car!

[Bad Bob]

This kind of thing is why you folks should thank your lucky stars that snow is a rare event over on your side of the ocean. 

-------

N.S. minister apologizes, launches safety review after storm strands 1,500 cars

HALIFAX, N.S. - Nova Scotia's transport minister apologized Thursday to the hundreds of motorists left stranded overnight on the Trans-Canada Highway after an intense snowstorm struck the central part of the province with little warning.

20/11/2008 4:08:00 PM

Michael Macdonald, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Murray Scott said his department had launched an independent safety review amid complaints the province was ill-prepared to deal with the first storm of the season, which also caused power outages across the province and in P.E.I.

"I apologize to the people who had to endure through the night being stuck in vehicles," Scott said outside the legislature. "We didn't cause the weather, but I'm accountable for what happens on our highways."

At the height of the storm Wednesday night, amid freezing temperatures and whiteout conditions, traffic was at a standstill across a 12-kilometre section of the four-lane, divided toll highway, about 100 kilometres north of Halifax.

"None of us was warned about the storm coming," said Scott. "This morning, I heard one of the newscasters say even the weather people weren't warning us. They weren't aware of it."

No one was injured, but at one point an ambulance and a police car were dispatched to travel eastward from Amherst on the empty westbound lanes to reach two people in medical distress.

One older man was rescued after he said he was having a stroke, and police brought a Coke and medication to a man who was worried about going into diabetic shock.

Officials with the RCMP, the Transport Department and the private company that operates the 47-kilometre toll highway said they received no warning that a storm was on its way.

The snow started around 3 p.m. About 45 minutes later, a car collided with a transport truck in the westbound lanes near the top of the Cobequid Mountains.

"Once the tractor-trailer got stuck on the hill, then everyone got stuck," RCMP Cpl. Darren Galley said from Amherst. "I'm sure there was a lot of people frustrated."

By 4:30 p.m., the decision was made to close the westbound lanes just west of the tollgate, which is also near the top of the chain of small mountains.

Within an hour, the weather deteriorated, darkness fell over the Cobequid Pass and the eastbound lanes were also closed as they became icy under about 10 centimetres of heavy, wet snow.

"The plows couldn't get through because of the traffic blocking the lanes," Galley said. "We all got blindsided by the storm."

Carolle Crooks was among five contemporary dancers and a technician in a van headed for a show in Moncton when the storm descended on them at 6 p.m., about three kilometres east of the tollgate.

Crooks said there was no indication the westbound lanes of the highway - the main link between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick - had been closed for more than 90 minutes.

"Cars continued to pile up for hours," she said in an interview. "We had no idea what was going on."

For the first few hours, the group played guessing games and ate what few snacks they had before bundling up in their extra clothes and shutting the engine off intermittently to conserve fuel.

Crooks said the local radio newscasts said nothing about the enormous traffic tie-up, which prompted a few members of the group to pick up their cellphones and start calling media outlets and the police.

She said the police provided little information and there was no sign of any officials patrolling the area to ensure people weren't in any distress, even though the eastbound lanes closed later and reopened much earlier.

"We just had to sit and wait," Crooks said.

She said police should have provided some basic provisions and basic information, particularly for those stranded with small children. But that never happened.

"We didn't sleep very much at all," she said, noting that one of the women in their rental van was pregnant.

Finally, after 15 hours stuck in the same spot, traffic started to move slowly at 9:30 a.m. and the dance crew headed for Truro, N.S., for a big breakfast.

A spokesman for the Atlantic Highway Management Corp., the private company that operates the toll highway, confirmed he received no weather warnings.

But general manager Wayne Crossan stressed that the area is know for rapid changes in the weather. A few years ago, that stretch of Highway 104 was closed for 20 hours because of a snowstorm, he said.

Still, Crossan said the number of vehicles stranded Wednesday night was much higher than usual.

He said the company has a contract with the Transportation Department to keep the highway clear, and he was satisfied with the work done in the wake of the storm.

"I think they did everything they could," he said.

The eastbound lanes reopened at 2 a.m. Thursday and the westbound lanes were cleared for traffic by 5:15 a.m.

Crossan said some drivers were clearly upset by the long wait but many had smiles on their faces as they were waved through the tollgate.

"It was heartening to see something like that," he said.

[Owzat]

snow - is that that white stuff that used to happen in winter when i was a kid?

No, that will probably be from overuse of your hand......... 

[Roger Red Hat]

let it snow let it snow let it snow...

[Dude Love]

CHRIST, I THOUGHT THIS PAGE WAS A GOIN TO BE A SERIOUS DISCUSSION ABOUT THE CURRENT DILEMENA OF THE GLOBAL SHORTAGE OF THE BOLIVIAN MARCHIN' POWDER!

BLOODY SNOW MATE!

[Ciggy]

Plenty here my garden this morning

[Judge]

Plenty here my garden this morning

blooming heck cigs dear, welcome back for now 

[JBG]

Great to see the bauld Ciggs back. Rock on girl!

[Ciggy]

Great to see the bauld Ciggs back. Rock on girl!

Ta Bob

OOOOOOOOOOOO a could crush a grape