The winter storm sweeping across southern B.C. has created supply problems for local grocery stores and gas stations.
Robert Jay, vice-president of Fairway Markets, said some suppliers were proactive and sent groceries to Victoria Thursday night ahead of the freezing rain.
“They had their drivers spend the night in Victoria. Some knew they weren’t going to be able to make the ferry today. That’s part of life on the Island,” said Jay. “We were lucky to get some orders before the roads were closed.”
Freezing rain closed roads and cancelled ferry sailings between Vancouver and Victoria, Nanaimo and the southern Gulf Islands.
The grocery chain gets much of its merchandise — poultry, meat, perishables, dry goods — from the mainland, said Jay.
“It’s hit and miss. We’ll reassess once we find out about road conditions and ferries and see how things are set up.” He is hoping customers will be patient and if they can’t find what they’re looking for, find an alternative.
“If you can’t find the turkey that you need for Christmas, maybe ham, maybe prime rib,” he suggested.
Victoria just doesn’t have the equipment to deal with winter storms, he said. “We’re not really ready for it. And it’s such a busy time and it adds even more stress.”
Still, Jay said he knows people are looking out for each other. “Helping others is one of the things about the Christmas spirit. People helping others, assisting others, that’s a great thing. It comes out and it shines.”
Fairway Markets plans to close at 7 p.m. today to allow staff to spend time with family, and will reopen Boxing Day.
Meanwhile, some gas stations have run out of gas and have placed yellow tape around their pumps.
While the Esso station on Hillside Avenue has gas — after getting a delivery on Thursday — delivery at nearby stations has been held up by the ice and snow, said the station manager.
The weather is also keeping plumbers busy.
“We’ve had lots of frozen pipes already and we’re expecting a lot of calls now that it’s started to thaw,” said Wade Roberts of Wade Roberts Plumbing, emergency plumbing experts.
Pipes may have frozen and cracked, but the water might not leak until the ice thaws a bit, he said.
“It should be a bit of a crazy weekend, but we’re hoping not, of course, because it’s Christmas and we don’t want to be working too hard,” said Roberts, who has posted a link on his Facebook page with instructions on how to clear off street drains.
“That can be a big help. And if there are any drains on their property in front of their garage or their stairwell, [make] sure those things are open and free as it starts to rain, [so] it can flow into those drains,” he said.
Roberts said some of his staff couldn’t make it to work on Friday, but a couple of plumbers were out and about.
“It’s tricky. Some of the side streets are tough to go on. We’ve put the word out to our whole team saying: ‘If anybody wants to pick up shifts.’ So we’ll see. Hopefully, we’ll be able to deal with as many of these issues as we can.”
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