Massive amounts of snow compounded with icy conditions made traveling in West Kelowna an extremely difficult task on Sunday night.
The West Kelowna RCMP also had their hands full dealing with power outage related fires.
According to police, one of the worst areas was Gellatly Road, which was extremely icy at one point making it difficult for vehicles to make it up the steep incline. Due to the conditions, the RCMP closed the road in both directions so that it could be cleared and sanded.
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At around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, strong winds blew over a large tree onto a power line on Webber Road, which in turn caught fire. The fire did not extend to any structures but the road was shut down for a period of time to allow the West Kelowna Fire Department and BC Hydro to extinguish the fire and fix the lines. There were no injuries reported.
Later at around 10:30 p.m., there was a three-vehicle chain-reaction collision along Highway 97, near Ross Road, due to icy road conditions. Two of the vehicles were towed and only minor injuries were reported.
“There were also a few abandoned vehicles throughout the area (along Highway 97 and Ross Road) that were a result of several factors including, running out of gas, not having proper winter tires and likely the driver’s decision to park and avoid risking driving with the road conditions,” said Const. Tania Carroll.
“Overall, the snow, ice and wind made for terrible driving conditions throughout the Okanagan yesterday. Motorists need to be reminded to drive to the road conditions and not to the posted speed limit, as the posted speed limit is for optimal driving conditions.”
Currently, there are no weather alerts in the Okanagan. The temperature is currently - 14 C with a few more flurries expected tonight.
READ MORE: Deep freeze arrives in Kelowna, temperatures drop to – 27C with the windchill
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daniel.taylor@kelownacapnews.com
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