Vehicle collides with house as weather deteriorates
By Nelson Daily Editor
By Timothy Schafer, The Nelson Daily
A green SUV collided with a house late Monday afternoon, with the home coming out on top in the encounter, Nelson Police reported.
The vehicle tumbled down an embankment and landed at the foot of a house near the Nelson and District Community Complex, causing slight damage to the house and structural damage to the vehicle, reported NPD Sgt. Dino Falcone.
The 67-year-old man driving the vehicle walked out on his own and was not injured, said Sgt. Falcone.
“Nelson experienced a heavy snowfall and rapid cooling temperatures on Monday afternoon,” he said. “This made for treacherous driving conditions and several accidents throughout the city.”
An NPD officer was dealing with an unrelated crash by the NDCC and saw the incident occur. The towing company was able to safely pull the vehicle out of the embankment, said Sgt. Falcone.
Environment Canada warned that winds gusting to 90 kilometres an hour are expected overnight and into Wednesday as B.C.’s wild winter takes another turn for the worse.
An intense Pacific low-pressure system is approaching the south coast, bringing powerful, potentially damaging southerly winds by early Wednesday morning to most of the region, as well as into the West Kootenay.
Meanwhile, the north and central B.C. coast will continue to be windy, with strong Arctic outflow winds bringing wind-chill factors as low as -20º C through Tuesday.
Drive with caution and know before you go
The official start of spring is just three weeks away, but winter driving conditions prevail over most of British Columbia, and are forecast to last well into March.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has cautioned to be prepared for winter conditions on B.C.’s highways, and reminds motorists to “know before you go,” for a safe winter drive.
One of the best ways to “know before you go” is to check current highway conditions on the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s Drive BC website. You’ll get route updates, details of closures and travel advisories.
You can also see the highway conditions in real time, with 175 highway webcams strategically placed around the province. All this information is available online at http://drivebc.ca.
Another way to “know before you go” is to follow DriveBC and TranBC on Twitter and get up-to-date information on your desktop or your mobile phone. These Twitter feeds are available at http://twitter.com/tranbc and http://twitter.com/drivebc. The ministry’s DriveBC Twitter feed already has over 1,200 followers.
Additionally, on most mountain passes throughout the province — including the Kootenay Pass and Paulson Pass in the West Kootenay — the use of winter tires or chains is not only a requirement, it is just good sense.
editor@thenelsondaily.com
