As Toronto struggled through a day when the
Gardiner was closed during the afternoon rush because of falling ice concerns, those to our north had it much, much worse.
Two multi-car pile-ups near Barrie involving more than 75 vehicles have left police scrambling to reach the scene and chaos on a long stretch of Highway 400.
The accidents happened in the middle of a blinding snowstorm, characterized by whiteouts and blowing snow and accompanied by fierce howling winds.
One is on the northbound 400 at Highway 88, and has two buses and a tractor trailer as part of the mess.
The other is in the southband lanes of the same road near Highway 89.
The scene at the site of the first accident was almost indescribable.
Firefighters were forced to cut into the cab of a tanker truck, its front end crushed under the back of another big rig.
The driver was trapped inside and had to be cut free by the Jaws Of Life. He suffered extreme frostbite and other assorted injuries.
"As you can see from the damage to the truck that it's very surprising that nobody was killed," said Cnst. Graham Williamson.
"It was extreme conditions. And when that occurs, I mean drivers really, really have to use a lot of caution."
"Before you leave on a trip, by all means, make sure you have got water, drinks in your vehicle. Make sure your gas is topped up, and make sure you have other necessities."
Rescue crews were battling not only the tangled masses of metal but the terrible conditions.
"It's brutal," one fire crewman admits. "We're trying to extricate the driver of a propane tractor trailer right now. We have another driver in the bus that we're trying to extricate. They're the most serious right now that we're working on."
There have been some serious injuries but incredibly no one has died as a result of the traffic tangles - as least as far as police know.
The accidents were the worst caused by the wicked weather, but they were by no means the only ones.
Police were forced to close most of the roads in Dufferin County, near Orangeville and Shelburne, after a brutal winter blast made nearly all the routes impossible to navigate.
Among the major arteries affected:
- Most regional roads,
- Highway 11 southbound at 93,
- Highway 11 at Innisfil Beach,
- Roads north of Oshawa/Whitby,
- Highway 12 from Orillia to Cambridge,
- Highway 89 near Shelburne.
Whiteouts are also being reported on the 401 heading toward London.
"The high winds are gusting so the snow is drifting across the highways," explains OPP Cst. Julia McCuaig. "Zero visibility. Very difficult to drive. Very hazardous to drive. So for everyone's safety it's closed down."
If you're planning on heading to those areas thinking you can 'take your chances', don't bother. You won't get through. "Officers will be there at those points blocking the highway," McCuaig promises.
The same problems are affecting areas of Halton Region, where roads are also said to be hazardous.
But this time, not everyone escaped.
It began when cops roared to the scene of a minivan into a ditch near Trafalgar and 5
th Sideroad around
10:45am.
Rescuers and motorists got out of their vehicles in white-out conditions to try and help. But because the visibility was so bad, more cars came along and hit the drivers who exited their automobiles.
One man was killed and three others seriously injured in that mishap.
Because police were on scene, the SIU is probing the incident.
OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley explains part of the problem is that the conditions change so suddenly, drivers literally head out of the clear and straight into zero visibility with almost no warning.
His advice if you're in those areas?
"Reduce your speed gradually as you look ahead and see it approaching," he warns. "If you can pull over somewhere safe and wait the storm out, that's a good idea."
The routes will stay closed as long as necessary - which means whenever Mother Nature descides to ease her wintry grip. There's no word on how long that might take.
But Woolley warns things are getting worse and it could be a while before anything improves.
How to drive in a blizzard