Hundreds of vehicle claims after snowstorm: MPI

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A blizzard that swept through southern Manitoba has led to hundreds of claims, with more expected.

As of Monday, Manitoba Public Insurance had received 511 collision claims from last Friday.

“We cannot attribute all collisions on Jan. 17 to the winter driving conditions, as we have not analyzed all the data to see the cause of these collisions,” an MPI spokesperson said in an email Tuesday. “However, we can say that blizzard-like conditions in many areas of the province was a contributing factor to a number of the collisions reported to MPI.”

The spokesperson did not believe this was a record number of claims for a single day, but the full scope of the damage won’t be known for some time.

“Collision claims for this date and this weather incident will continue to come in over the next weeks and months, so this number is accurate as of (Monday), but we do expect this number to increase,” the spokesperson said.

Winnipeg led the way with 268 claims, as dozens of accidents were reported in the city and the surrounding area.

Several multi-vehicle pileups were reported to police, including a massive wreck near Fermor Avenue and Symington Road at about 9:45 a.m.

That crash claimed the life of a 30-year-old woman, believed to have been hit by another vehicle after exiting hers.

RCMP and Winnipeg Police Service officers, along with fire and rescue crews from Winnipeg and the RM of Springfield were sent to the scene.

RCMP said no other serious injuries were reported in the multi-vehicle collision, which happened about two hours before the province issued an emergency alert Friday warning motorists to stay off all highways in southern Manitoba — the first of its kind in the province for a weather-related incident.

RCMP estimated at least 50 crashes took place, while the WPS said dozens of vehicles were involved in collisions on the south Perimeter Highway.

Health Sciences Centre alerted staff members a possible “code orange” could be issued, which would mean a sudden influx of patients would be incoming.

An actual “code orange” was issued by Ste. Anne Hospital and the Bethesda Regional Health Centre after a multi-vehicle collision occurred near Ste. Anne.

MPI said Tuesday another 31 claims came from Steinbach, which reportedly had around 100 cars off of the road after videos emerged of vehicles near Highway 12.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca