Environment Canada lifts freezing rain warnings for Edmonton, other areas

All freezing rain warnings issued by Environment Canada Tuesday for Edmonton and other parts of Alberta ended shortly after noon Wednesday.

Drivers in Edmonton and parts of central and northern Alberta had been dealing with slippery conditions as freezing rain left local roads and highways slick with ice.

Edmonton police reported 100 collisions as of 3 p.m. Wednesday — 77 involving property damage, 19 hit and runs, and four collisions resulting in injury.

Alberta Health Services said emergency medical services crews responded to 103 emergency calls for slips and falls Wednesday in Edmonton and surrounding areas, most of them related to weather conditions.

In a post to Twitter around 7 a.m., Alberta 511 cautioned that many highways were covered in ice and snow with poor visibility in many areas.

Fort Saskatchewan RCMP said road conditions were icy when three tractor-trailer units jack-knifed in the eastbound lanes of Highway 16 at Range Road 210 just before 7 a.m. The scene is about 24 kilometres east of Sherwood Park.

No one was injured.

Traffic was blocked but the icy conditions made it unsafe to divert traffic, police said in an advisory Wednesday morning. Travel in the area was not recommended.

The Parkland School Division cancelled morning and afternoon bus service. Elk Island Public Schools cancelled morning service and said a decision on afternoon bus runs would be made later.