The City of St. John’s is asking residents to stay off the streets as much as possible while snowplows work to remove recent snow dumps, with more than 100 centimeters of snow in the city in less than a week.

A city statement Sunday night said it was not considering declaring a state of emergency, believing that asking residents to stay off the streets would provide sufficient relief for snow removal efforts.

The city has also suspended trash collection and maintained a ban on street parking outside of downtown areas.

“If you don’t have to go somewhere, please stay home. But if you do have to go out, please use extreme caution,” said St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen. St. John’s Morning Show on monday.

This comes after a flurry of posts on social media comparing the recent storm to 2020’s storm known as Snowmageddon. The storm dumped 76 centimeters of snow in St. John’s and 93 centimeters in neighboring Mount Pearl and Paradise.

Meteorologists Lloyd Lehman and Kelly Butt said 144.8 centimeters of snow fell in Paradise last week and more than 100 centimeters in St. John’s.

But Breen said the situation is different this time and a state of emergency is not necessary. Snowmageddon came all at once, but the most recent storm occurred over nearly a week. The 2020 storm brought days of strong winds that packed snow, sometimes making it impossible for snowplows to reach roads.

“It’s not based on snowfall amounts, it’s based on conditions and conditions at the time,” Breen said.

The mayor advised that the best thing people can do now is to keep cars off the road as much as possible so crews can work on widening the road.

St. John’s University closed all public facilities on Monday in hopes of easing pressure.

In the hard-hit Paradise area, Mayor Patrick Martin has also urged people to stay at home. He said that declaring a state of emergency is not being considered at this time.

“To be honest, I don’t feel like it’s necessary at this point,” Martin said. “Council is continuing to monitor the situation at this time. … Crews will need a little more time to clean up. It will take a little longer than usual.”

Martin said town officials spent Sunday working to clear the main road to traffic, and now the focus is on clearing side streets and eventually opening all routes. As of Monday morning, there was no timeline for when that work would be completed.

Metrobus suspended bus service in the morning and an update was expected to be provided at noon.

State government offices in the National Capital Region will be closed for the day, except for employees who have been notified to report to work.

St. John’s courtrooms will be closed for the day.

Schools across the state had already gone on winter break and were scheduled to resume classes on Tuesday.

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