WINNIPEG -- The city is estimating an early snow storm that shut down the city in October cost almost $10 million.
In the newly released Financial Status Report and Forecast up to Nov. 30, 2019, the city gave an update on costs related to the intense winter storm that battered Winnipeg and much of Manitoba in mid-October.
Some parts of the city saw snow top off at 35cm and wind gusts were reported at 80 km/h.
Over 50,000 residents lost power at some point during the storm and roughly 10 per cent of tree canopies suffered damage.
READ MORE: Manitoba under state of emergency, full power restoration could take days
A local state of emergency was declared on Oct. 13, to help facilitate the response and clean-up activities.
In total, the City of Winnipeg estimates costs related to the clean-up are nearly $10 million, $7.6 million of which are incremental costs.
Tree-pruning and debris clean-up by the Public Works Departments is expected to cost $6.9 million, snow removal is expected to cost $1.4 million and repairing a slope along the Pembina Highway Overpass at Bishop Grandin Boulevard will cost roughly $400,000, totaling $8.7 million.
The city is also expecting an invoice of around $900,000 related to all the crews that came in from other cities including Toronto, Saskatoon, Regina and Calgary.
READ MORE: A forestry crew from Toronto is winding down its weeks of post-storm cleanup operations in Winnipeg
Winnipeg had 59 employees and 49 pieces of machinery come in from these other cities.
In the report the city said it did give permission to departments to over-expend budgeted amounts for clean-up efforts.
Council also approved the city to apply to the province for disaster financial assistance.
800 staff spent over 60,000 hours dealing with the storm
The city opened up the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) on Oct. 10, at a Level 1 and moved to a Level 2 from Oct. 11 to Oct. 18.
The report said there was more than 1,000 hours of EOC time served by several different departments including: Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, Winnipeg Police Service, Public Works, Winnipeg Transit, Community Services, Water and Waste, Corporate Communications, Legal Services, Corporate Finance, Shared Health, and others.
More than 800 city staff worked over 60,000 hours, which included large amounts of overtime, to deal with the storm.
311 was also kept busy, as it received over 5,500 calls related to tree damage and the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service received 2,600 calls, which was roughly double compared to regular call volume.
Winnipeg Transit struggled during the storm especially on Oct. 11, when 112 buses were either stuck in the snow or blocked by other vehicles. At one point 22 buses were all stuck at the same time, the city said?
Service took a major hit as 65 per cent of buses were running 20 minutes behind schedule, another 20 per cent were running over an hour late. The struggles also saw the service in Wildwood and Waverly West completely suspended.
Financial update
In the report, the city is projecting a deficit of roughly $6.7 million which is better than original costs estimated at $9.2 million, according the city.
The previous estimates came in the October report.
