All News

4:00pm (and weekend) update

This week, the City of Nanaimo experienced two major weather systems that broke daily snowfall records within a 24 hour period for both Tuesday, Jan. 14 and Wednesday, Jan 15, 2020.

Today, Environment Canada has issued another heavy snowfall warning with total amounts of 10 to 15 cm of snow for tonight through to Saturday morning. They have also noted that the approaching Pacific storm will have strong winds. 

On the Roads

City Crews will be out all night on Friday cleaning up residential areas and plowing emergency and priority routes as required. 

Winter driving with icy conditions will be throughout Nanaimo tonight and tomorrow morning. Please consider postponing non-essential travel for this period.

As the snow changes to rain, please help prevent flooding by ensuring drains on and around your property are clear of snow and ice.

We want to take this opportunity to thank residents and businesses for clearing the snow and ice from the sidewalks in front of your property. We encourage Nanaimo residents, occupants, tenants, and businesses who will be away/closed this time of year to make arrangements to have your sidewalk and/or storefront cleared while away from home or work. The City clears sidewalks in front of City facilities, on bridges, the Waterfront Walkway and E & N Trail. 

Garbage Collection

Thank you to the City of Nanaimo curbside collection customers for your patience and understanding with this week’s cancellations. We understand that those who live on the routes that were missed during the snowfall events are concerned about the amount of garbage and how long to wait until the next scheduled collection.  

Garbage/recycling collection resumed Friday, January 17, 2020 with regular scheduled routes as temperatures climbed above freezing. Weather permitting, sanitation crews will be out on Saturday, Jan. 18, continuing collections for route 5 households. 

City staff will continue to evaluate daily collections based on weather and safety conditions. To be directly informed of any updates to curbside service please sign up for Service Alerts. Service Alerts can be set up as notifications on the Nanaimo Recycles app, or through the My Schedule tool on our website to be sent as emails, text messages or phone calls. Download the free Nanaimo Recycles app from the App Store and Google Play. 

You can also read the news release, City of Nanaimo snowfall and refuse collection disruptions, for more information, which includes an FAQ with helpful information. 

Parks and Recreation

All facilities are currently open. 

City staff will continue to evaluate daily the potential impact on programs due to the weather and instructor availability. Staff will also continue to do their best in contacting individuals whose programs may be cancelled.

Over the weekend, we will continue to provide you updates on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. (Please note, you do not need to have a social media account in order to see our updates on social media.)  If you are unable to access Facebook or Twitter, please contact our switchboard to confirm if your program is running: 250-756-5200.

Groups with facility rentals are encouraged to notify Parks, Recreation and Culture if you are cancelling. Please call 250-756-5200.

Please use extra care if you visit City parks as trails and boardwalks may be icy and heavy snow may weigh down branches. Crews continue to clear and salt walkways into City buildings, downtown sidewalks with City-owned properties (including Maffeo Sutton Park) and the E&N Trail as first priorities and as needed at this point. They also continue to clear additional sidewalks around City-owned facilities and parks - especially those areas in front of parkland where key walking routes to school are located.

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6:45am Update. 

On the Roads

Winter driving with icy conditions remain throughout Nanaimo for all morning travel. Residents should exercise extreme caution walking, driving or cycling in all areas.

Last night, and early through the night, City Crews were able to move from priority one routes into secondary and residential routes. However, due to freezing road temperatures Crews moved back to emergency and priority routes to apply more salt. Crews were also working to on opening the collection routes for today's pick up (more on garbage pick-up below). 

Weather forecast is calling for snow/rain showers for tonight and heavier snow to commence thru to Sat AM, with accumulations in the 4-6cm.

Property owners and tenants (residential and businesses) are responsible for clearing snow and ice from the sidewalks in front of their property. The City clears sidewalks in front of City facilities, on bridges, the Waterfront Walkway and E & N Trail. 

Garbage Collection

Thank you to the City of Nanaimo curbside collection customers for your patience and understanding with this week’s cancellations. Garbage/recycling collection will resume with regular scheduled routes today once temperatures climb above freezing. If road conditions pose risk to workers or residents, collection of the carts on your street may be delayed.

Due to the record breaking snow events we had between Monday, January 13 and Thursday, January 16, 2020, collections were missed and had to be cancelled so that resources and personnel could be deployed to help with snow related matters.

For those who had their garbage collection cancelled, you may set out one extra bag of garbage on your next scheduled garbage collection day. Please ensure the bag weighs less than 50 pounds and is spaced at least three feet (one metre) from your black and green bins.

To be directly informed of any updates to curbside service please sign up for Service Alerts. Service Alerts can be set up as notifications on the Nanaimo Recycles app, or through the My Schedule tool on our website to be sent as emails, text messages or phone calls. Download the free Nanaimo Recycles app from the App Store and Google Play. 

Parks and Recreation

All facilities are open. Registered programs are running with some cancellations due to instructor availability. We are doing our best to contact those individuals registered in cancelled programs. Please contact our switchboard to confirm if your program is running: 250-756-5200.

Groups with facility rentals are encouraged to notify Parks, Recreation and Culture if you are cancelling. Please call 250-756-5200.

Field are closed, you can view the current field status report here.

Please use extra care if you visit City parks as trails and boardwalks may be icy and heavy snow may weigh down branches. Crews continue to clear and salt walkways into City buildings, downtown sidewalks with City-owned properties (including Maffeo Sutton Park) and the E&N Trail as first priorities and as needed at this point. They also continue to clear additional sidewalks around City-owned facilities and parks - especially those areas in front of parkland where key walking routes to school are located.

Warming centre
A warming centre at the 7-10 Club (285 Prideaux Street) will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on January 17. The City of Nanaimo thanks our partners at the 7-10 Club and the Salvation Army for their help with this short-term initiative.

Stay up to date with conditions on the City's website, Twitter feed (@cityofnanaimo) and Facebook page. For up-to-date information on public transit, follow @RDN_Transit on Twitter and @BCFerries on Twitter. Please also listen to our local radio stations the Wave 102.3, Wolf 106.9 or 91.7 Coast FM. 

Visit our Snow and Ice Control page for information on the City's response to snow and what residents and commuters can do to stay safe.