 Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bowen Ma, B.C.'s Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness. I'm speaking to you today from the territories of the Squamish, the Muscovite, and the people. Thousands of British Columbians and people traveling through our province have been impacted by heavy snowfall and extreme cold temperatures. We know that this hasn't been easy, especially with so many people traveling for the holidays. Thank you for your patience and for your compassion for those around you. I want to thank everyone who has been doing what they can to keep themselves and others safe by staying home if they can and checking in on their neighbors, especially those who are elderly or have mobility issues. During the cold weather season, EMCR provides funding for local governments to set up warming centers for people to warm up and get information on how to safely stay warm where they live. Warming centers are currently open in many communities across the province, including but not limited to Campbell River, Cranbrook, Maple Ridge, Victoria and Vancouver. I encourage anyone who knows of someone who could benefit from these centers to check with your local community's website or social media for information. While we're expecting temperatures to start warming up in the coming days, snow is forecast tonight through tomorrow and will likely turn into freezing rain tomorrow and then rain. Freezing rain is primarily forecast in the Fraser Valley and on Vancouver Island. In the Fraser Valley, freezing rain could last up to 36 hours and may cause dangerous and slippery road conditions for drivers. Environment Canada and drive BC have issued weather alerts and travel advisories for many areas and I strongly encourage everyone in these areas to travel only if necessary. I know many people have plans to travel to their friends and families, but these are very dangerous conditions and we want to make sure everyone is safe. BC Hydro is also advising that freezing rain is likely to cause power outages, particularly on Vancouver Island and in the Fraser Valley. Their crews are ready to respond to outages as quickly as possible. If you need to travel only if necessary, I know that you need to travel. Get prepared by packing a winter survival kit, including a windshield scraper, a snow brush, flashlights and extra batteries, first aid supplies, blankets, drinking water and non-perishable food. It is also a good idea to have a full tank of fuel before traveling. Around the home, please make sure that you have flashlights and batteries available and make sure that your drains are clear in preparation for the snow melt and rain that is likely to come over the weekend. If you are stuck or stranded, stay in your vehicle or your home, call 9-1-1 for assistance when needed. While freezing rain is in our immediate future, we are also looking to what is next. Heavy rain. My ministry is working closely with the River Forecast Centre to anticipate river levels and communicate with the public. While at this time, river conditions are not anticipated to lead to significant flooding, we will be monitoring the situation closely and are ready to assist, part of me, ready to notify people and their communities and to assist if flooding does occur. My ministry is prepared to support First Nations and local governments who need it. On the lower mainland, Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island, we have pre- positioned sandbags, gabions which are like wall-like structures and tiger dams which are stackable orange tubes filled with water. So we are pre-positioning flood assets where they are most likely to be needed. This weather could also have impacts on farmers in the Fraser Valley, who I know have already dealt with so much. And I know that Minister Alexis is working with our partners to do what we can to minimize impacts on their operations. My ministry has, like I said, pre-positioned flood assets on Vancouver Island, lower mainland should any First Nations or local authorities need assistance. Thank you again to everyone who has come together to help keep each other safe. Stay safe. Our government is doing everything that we can to make sure that people are safe, kept warm, while we weather these storms together. Events like this are an example of the important coordination role of this new ministry and will continue to work together to strengthen our preparedness and mitigation so that we can make sure that we get our future together and protect the places that we call home. Thank you. And I will now turn it over to Minister Fleming who will be joining us virtually. Good afternoon from the territory of the people in the Songhees and the First Nations. As Minister Ma just advised, we are here this afternoon to advise the public of a serious weather event approaching the south coast of BC. This winter atmospheric river will bring heavy rain to the south coast of BC. We will outline the ministry of transportation and infrastructure's preparations in coordination with our maintenance contractors to keep our highways safe. And I first want to acknowledge the hard work of our maintenance contractors. All week, these hard-working people have been working around the clock, 10 and 12 hour shifts to deal with the winter conditions that have been hit with here on the south coast. On the lower mainland over 2,400 kilometers of road. And it's worth noting and remembering that these are the very same people, the very same maintenance contractors, our BC road builders who jumped into action last November to help us deal with the aftermath of the atmospheric river. They worked to clear highways then to rescue stranded drivers to put our roadways right again through a massive repair effort that surpass all expectations. And we thank them then and they deserve our thanks again for the difficult work they do in the worst weather situations imaginable. Now, to the weather approaching us. As stated, we're expecting a severe winter weather system starting later tonight. Our maintenance contractors are preparing for heavy snow to hit the south coast this evening. They're fully deployed with those same hundreds of pieces of equipment and have sub contractors with more equipment ready as well. Working with Environment Canada, we expect heavy snow will hit Vancouver Island, Housound Whistler in the Sunshine Coast, the lower mainland and the Fraser Valley. Accumulations will differ by locale, but we could see as much as 20 to 30 centimeters of snow over a 10 to 12 hour period. After that, as freezing temperatures rise, this snow will change to freezing rain and ice pellets. And this will happen tomorrow morning and could last well into Saturday. The duration of the freezing will depend on location and we're watching this freezing rain event very closely as it has the potential to have a very significant impact on road conditions all across the south coast of BC, including Vancouver Island. The freezing rain is such a concern, in fact, that my ministry is strongly advising against any form of travel from tonight through Saturday. A particular concern on the island is the Malahat Highway 1 and Highway 4 to Port Alberni. This will affect roads in the interior as well, including the western portions of the Coca-Cola Highway 1 through the Fraser Canyon and Highway 3, the whole Princeton Highway. Freezing rain can coat our highways in ice and our maintenance contractors are fitting many of their vehicles with ice blades to cut through any accumulation as ice is very tough to manage. In the interest of safety, we may close highways if necessary with short notice. I know people have plans for the holidays. They want to spend time with family, friends, and loved ones, but this is a significant weather event. Snow followed by freezing rain and then rain. And the rainfall that follows could be extremely heavy and as much as 80 millimeters, which could result in some localized flooding. And Minister Ma has outlined some of the preparations that have been undertaken to deal with that. As always, our contractors will do their best to manage what is thrown our way. But the timing is going to be tricky to go from plowing a heavy dump of snow to laying down salt to combat the freezing rain. It will be a big challenge. And for those who absolutely must travel, you will need to plan and prepare and we ask for your patience and to exercise the utmost caution. Drive slowly and safely according to the conditions. Do not pass maintenance equipment. They're there to keep you safe. Observe the amber lights as they work on our roads. And be fully prepared for winter conditions. This includes having proper winter tires and making sure you pack appropriate clothing and food in case you're stuck or delayed. Once we get to Christmas day, we expect to be back in the typical rainy, temperate, west coast weather pattern. But in closing, I can't understate the significance of the incoming weather front. Rarely do we see such heavy snow followed by freezing rain and heavy rainfall. We want everyone to remain safe. That's why I'm advising against travel by road on the island and south coast and to and from the interior from tonight through Saturday unless absolutely necessary. And I want to sincerely thank all of those who are out in the worst weather, working to keep our province safe, working to keep our roads clear. They will be called upon to do so again in the coming hours as this weather event hits us. Thank you. Thank you very much. I believe Bobby Sekon from Environment Canada will be speaking next. Thank you. Oh, good. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is everybody. My name is Louis Kohane. I'm a meteorologist with Environment Canada. And the following weather briefing will be provided in English, but questions welcome either official language or language. And responses will be provided in the language of the question. The next weather briefing will be provided in English, but your questions are welcome in one or the other official language and the answers will be provided in the language of your choice. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bobby Sekon. I'm a warning preparedness meteorologist with environment and climate change Canada. I'm here to talk to you about the approaching winter storm. As British Plumians know, we've been in the cold Arctic air in all parts of the province, including the south coast. We've dealt with a couple around the snow already and we have the next winter storm on its way. This cold Arctic air will collide with Pacific moisture which will be bringing not only wet weather but also a rise in temperatures and freezing levels. We'll start off with snow tonight and into tomorrow for many parts of the south coast. 10 to 20 centimeters for most areas. We'll start off with a cold Arctic air up to 30 centimeters, especially places like sea to sky and the eastern Fraser Valley. There will be a transition to rain. However, before that happens, there will be the hazard of freezing rain. Freezing rain is a phenomenon where you have snow that melts through above freezing layer and then refreezes at the surface creating very slippery conditions and can also add weight to structures causing damage to power lines as well. This is a very hazardous phenomenon and certainly any time that we get several hours of that, that can lead to great impacts. We're expecting that freezing rain over Vancouver Island, late tomorrow morning through the afternoon for Metro Vancouver area starting around midday through late in the afternoon. For the Fraser Valley, it will start late in the afternoon tomorrow through the night and into Saturday. Now, this cold, dense Arctic air with the outflows, it's very hard to clear out. It is possible that freezing rain can linger longer into the Fraser Valley than expected, so I encourage everybody to stay prepared to encounter this freezing rain for longer than expected if that may be. There are a number of scenarios with this freezing rain. It could be short as 12 hours or as long as 36 hours. It's important to be prepared for the worst case scenario. This after the freezing rain is over, like I mentioned, coastal parts of the South Coast will transition to rain sometime Friday night into Saturday and for the Fraser Valley, it will be probably Saturday night into Sunday that the transition to rain happens. With the rain falling on cold surfaces, it can also create very slippery conditions, slushy conditions and continue to be really hazardous for driving. So definitely encouraging people. If you don't have to travel, you can get a couple of days here. So I encourage everybody to keep an eye on our forecast and alerts, stay up to date, check drive B.C. and please stay safe this holiday season. We have Dave Campbell from the River Forecast Centre. Joining us on Zoom. Thank you. I'm Dave Campbell, the head of the River Forecast Centre from the Ministry of Forests. Just provide a bit of an update in terms of the context of outlook for flood potential across the South side of the province. Clearly we can see that transition as we go through the weekend from cold weather now and into that steady warming and it will really be at the tail end of the weekend warming where we'll start to see the increases in potential for flood risk as temperatures warm up and we transition into both the rainfall and more steady snow melt. We have a fair bit of snow on the ground down to low elevations and while it seems like a fair amount of snow, the water content is fairly modest. We've got about 10 to 25 millimetres of stored water within that low elevation snowpack. That's going to start melting as we work our way through the weekend into that Saturday period as temperatures warm up. We see two main concerns at this point, the first being as we transition through the period seeing melt at the temperatures warm up and the potential for localised and low-level water pooling, standing water and potential areas that have poor runoff either because of potentially impacted by snow and ice covering up drainage structures. Really encouraging people to clean those out as we go through the event available for natural drainage to happen. The second key factor is going to be as we come through the latter part of the weekend additional rainfall and that Sunday into Monday period where we will have more accelerated snow melt up through into mid-elevations as well as moderate to heavy rainfall. This is the period we're most concerned about. Four high flows will be that Sunday into Monday period where we do have the potential to see high flows and the potential for minor or even moderate flooding. We're continuing to monitor the conditions as we get a better handle on the amount of rainfall in the latter part of the weekend and into next week. We are anticipating seeing a more steady period of wetter weather as we go through next week. We'll be continuing to monitor conditions throughout that period. We have issued a high stream flow advisory for the South Coast and Vancouver Island in recognition of these conditions in the early part of the latter part of the weekend. We'll be continuing to update that with information as we continue to monitor through the weekend. So with that, I'll wrap up and thank you very much. Fantastic. Turned it over to you now, I guess. Thank you, Minister, and thank you to all our speakers. As a reminder, for media on the phone, please press star one to enter the queue. That's star one to ask a question. For media in the room, please line up at the microphone and please make sure to provide your full name and outlet. Media will be limited to one question and one follow-up. We'll be starting in the room today. Please go ahead. Hi, Minister. This may be a question for Minister Fleming or yourself. I'm wondering if you could detail, is there anything that road crews can do to mitigate the effects of freezing rain on the highways and maybe if you could go into a little bit of detail about what preparations are being done right now. Minister Fleming. Thank you. What road crews will be doing is looking at the snow accumulation overnight and plowing around the clock to keep roadways clear, using abrasives. Then we'll have to switch as temperatures change and conditions change and icy rain occurs to salting, brining and other de-icing materials. This is going to be very tricky, as I mentioned, and it will be very difficult to keep up with. We're also deploying different types of plow technology, ice blades will be used to break up any icy accumulations. Perhaps for some further detail on this, I'll refer to Steve Surratt from the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. Thank you, Minister. With the conditions as they are now, as the minister said, primarily the focus will be on plowing and abrasives overnight, with the temperatures still at the freezing levels they are. We're also looking at weather forecast very closely to find when that transition goes from snow into the freezing rain, and at that point we'll be trying to place as much salt as possible to battle the freezing rain. However, with the prolonged nature of this event and the amount of freezing rain expected, there's only so much salt that can be put down, so we do expect some very slippery conditions as a result of the prolonged nature of the freezing rain, which is a challenge that's to be addressed. The contractors use various types of ice breaking technology like ice blades to try and break it up and return the conditions back to a safe for the traveling public as quickly as possible. Thank you. And, Minister, did you have a follow-up? So, typically, the process has been to only really focus on the main arteries and not so much neighborhood roads. Is that still the case between now and, say, when the snow starts tonight? Do you think that's still the case on some of the smaller roads to try to clear some of that snow that's been here since Tuesday? So, I'll start with a response there and then pass it over to Minister Fleming. I should be clear that snow removal operation plans at the local level inside neighborhood streets, they do exist with the local governments. And I know municipalities across the province who are experiencing high levels of snowfall, they are prioritizing the streets according to the needs of their communities. But I'll pass it on to Minister Fleming to see if he has anything to add to that. So, we're coordinating with municipal governments on how to keep main roads, especially off-ramps, from our highways into arterial roads in municipalities. They'll be on the same overnight 24-7 schedule that we are applying in many applying in many cases the same types of road treatments to try and maintain traction using sand and abrasives after plowing and then moving into salt. I expect but don't want to speak for local governments that they will prioritize their main thoroughfares and probably not get to residential side streets as quickly but we're going to have to also pay attention to what the freezing rain does and what and base deployments on that to try and keep slippery road conditions at an absolute minimum and then pay attention to the rainfall that's expected in 24 to 36 hours from now to to see what that does to our roads. For our next question we're going to grant what glacier media please go ahead emergency management and climate readiness we used to be known as emergency management bc and now is under this new ministry we have been in contact with the with yvr we are in contact with the our federal counterparts as well certainly airport operations especially at an international airport do fall under federal jurisdiction but emergencies don't know boundaries and so we are in contact with our federal counterparts about how we can assist if if there is a role for us to play there. Emergency management and climate readiness staff are on standby 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year to receive and respond to requests for emergency assistance from local communities and so as an example many communities have currently deployed warming centers that are funded through emcr we work with communities to make sure that when they are faced with with emergency situation that they that extends beyond their operational capacity to manage on their own that we're there for them who else have you spoken to though other than yvr so oh absolutely so our our our operations center is available for communities to connect with whenever they need help so oftentimes communities will actually call right into the operation center and they'll be done direct in direct coordination with them so we do have some let me see I don't have a full list of the communities who have been in contact with us so far but I believe Ian Cummings is Cummings is on the line and maybe he can give us a rundown on the communities that have been in contact with the mcr. Yes thanks minister Ian Cummings senior director with emergency management and climate readiness when Environment Canada issued the orange alert earlier in the week that went out to all emergency managers within the province we liaised with the Environment and Climate Change Canada and on their advice determined that communities on Vancouver Island within the southwest region so Pemberton to Hope area and in our central region largely Kamloops area and in the interior we conducted a coordination call or weather specific coordination call which features a weather briefing from Environment and Climate Change Canada as well as an update from the river forecast center so our indigenous partners and local authorities can have the best information possible in order to be prepared for the weather change this weekend thank you minister understand minister understand minister Fleming on the line would like to add something as well thank you minister ma I just wanted to add that our ministry is coordinating with our public transit agencies both TransLink and BC transit about maintaining service levels the plan right now for BC transit is to maintain operations today and keep things like handy dart in operations so and they'll be communicating with passengers who have prebook trips so that they don't have to cancel appointments wherever possible and obviously we're working with BC ferries to see how they're holding to scheduled sailings so before the storm front arrives service levels are going to be maintained where they've been able to remain operational and we're going to direct the public to look at both TransLink and BC transit and BC ferries websites for for further advisers yeah for minister Fleming you keep saying that you have a full complement of equipment coming up but people I guess the public has continued to say that it hasn't been enough what is your opinion do you think that we need to add more equipment for these contractors to get the lower especially the lower main highways cleared thank you well I I want to thank the road maintenance contractors again who worked in conditions where in some cases six centimeters of snow fell per hour and we're doing multiple passes on all of our highways to keep them clear with tandem plows mobilizing additional equipment we have all that equipment for this next storm front heading our way there has been additional work to secure subcontractors who have equipment that can be put into clearing roads and de-icing roads it's a it's a huge operation we had snow falls that are in certainly in the record books in terms of recent decades for how much snow accumulation we experienced in a very short period of time we're heading into another overnight forecast that suggests that we'll have the same conditions so you know to have the crews ready working through the night mobilizing every available piece of equipment and procuring even more and spreading and stockpiling materials so that we're ready for what's coming to us has been a massive effort and it's been an extremely busy week for everybody who's been working on this effort for our next question for our next question we're going to go to the phones Mike Hager global mail please go ahead thanks for taking our questions do you have a ballpark number for how many community warming centers have been opened with provincial funding and how many communities they're located in across the border so I'll start by saying that we are available to work with communities to open these warming centers as required for those communities so any communities that are out there who do anticipate a need please do call in to the emcr operating center but I'll turn it over to Ian Cunning's who likely has a list in front of him yes thanks minister latest count and anyone can go look at communities that we've been assisting on the emergency info bc website but currently and there's too many to list here today but there are 21 communities that have indicated to us that they have opened warming centers around the province yes thanks what's your ministry's best estimate for the number of people sleeping outside across the province and what's your message to them so we know that it is an incredibly difficult time for people who are currently experiencing homelessness it is very cold frigid temperatures out there we ask that they seek out anyone in need of a warming center please seek out a warning center in your community there your local communities will have information about where these warming centers are the challenge of homelessness here in British Columbia is one of the priorities that our government wants to tackle and it's and I know that under minister Ravi Kailan a lot of work has already been underway in the last two weeks that he's held this file we are moving quickly to try to build more housing for people who who need it more emergency supports for people who need it as well I don't have an estimate in my ministry or at least right now that I have available I don't know Ian if you are if this is something that you also have available to you but if not then we'll follow up with BC housing and get that information for you that would be correct minister we would need to follow up with BC housing they would have that information Mike let let us Mike let let us follow up with BC housing and get response to you after this after this closes for our next question we're going to Sarah mcdonald global news please go ahead this might be for minister about the contractors the people working so hard on the road we've seen shortcomings though in the past few days and we put the snowfall as specifically when it comes to main road operations we've seen major arteries still are not clear of snow at this point are you confident your contractors are going to be able to handle these weather conditions as you've been speaking about how they've been operating through expectation in recent weeks and is the province reassessing its contracts with the road maintenance companies that are tasked with minister Fleming I'll I'll let you lead off on that one great so what we are doing is coordinating with all of our road maintenance contractors making sure that the ministry can provide any additional support making sure we have sufficient material stockpiled procuring additional equipment where available with with subcontractors as I mentioned it has been very difficult given the rate and pace of snowfall to stay ahead on plowing in some areas and you know it we haven't had a break over the most recent effort to clear our highways so we return and do additional passes every person available in the road maintenance contractors staff has been out working and they've been working extended shifts to try and get ahead of an event that was very difficult to get ahead of we've had a calm day to get back and replow and continue to maintain our highway systems we've urged the public to reduce any unnecessary travel so that plows aren't stuck behind congestion and we thank the public for heating those warnings and and adjusting their travel schedules accordingly that's the kind of cooperation we're going to need over the next 24 to 48 hours so that we can keep our roads in the safest conditions possible because the new challenge is going to be freezing rain which we have not had in any of our weather systems so far this winter season those are coming those produce additional challenges and different strategies on how to keep roads free of ice and as safe as possible and I'll ask Steve serrat if he would like to add anything additional that I may have neglected to mention thank you minister the only thing I will add is that compact snow on our highways especially during the winter and especially during the temperatures we're seeing is an acceptable standard in state for our highway conditions once you add the snow the the freezing temperatures that we're seeing on the amount of traffic volume that they impact the importance the focus for our contractors at that point is to make sure the traction is sufficient and safe and not necessarily we're moving it that can be very challenging once you get into these type of temperatures and it takes time in order to to get to that point where you can bear them off to black highways so not just simply because there's compact snow on the on the roast does not mean it's not meeting a specification or a safe traveling that is up to the drivers to make sure they're making the appropriate decision driving safely to the conditions that they're experiencing sara did you have a follow-up like I do yeah we I mean we see major highways that still aren't clear um of snow and I mean arguably most people who are paid to do a job it does not done sufficiently will no longer have that job so I just minister Fleming how do you respond to taxpayers who say that not enough is being done with their money by the contractors who are being paid to clear the road and keep them safe and once again just want to follow up are you reassessing your contracts with main road operations thank you we have uh my unmuted we have uh performance standards that are adhered to year-round for road maintenance contractors uh we have an incentive payment scheme uh that evaluates how well contractors perform throughout the year and we will continue to do that you know after this storm events and into the next part of the season we do that year-round as I mentioned main road has been great at making sure that their workers are available and out full force around the clock adjusting schedules doing their best to get ahead of a weather system that does not permit uh bare highway conditions as Steve has just outlined given the rate of of snowfall but gets us to the contract specifications about how much compact snow can be allowed on highways we do have some bare highway conditions though it should be mentioned uh both in the lower mainland and in the province we've got a significant dump of snow ahead of us uh we're going to have to go again uh plow put a braces down deice and manage this weather system that's why we're advising the traveling public today to reduce all unnecessary travel and I know that's a hard decision to make because people have uh visits that they've been looking forward to that are planned for the holidays but we want people to be safe and exercise additional caution for our next for our next question we're going to Tyler Wilson Fraser Valley current please go ahead yeah thanks um to minister Fleming uh many people commute on highways especially in the freezer valley and are scheduled to work tomorrow what would you say to any employer who expects their workers to commute between sake chill lack and atmosphere tomorrow morning before any freezing rain starts yeah I think those are I think those are the kinds of things that people need to take preparations given what the forecast is and how serious it is about what accommodations can be made um so people who have good vehicles with good tires on them who absolutely need to travel for work purposes who have essential businesses they need to do to conduct and commute will need to consult drive bc look at what the weather conditions are this warning is for people to make adjustments as they can uh we uh we want people to reduce travel where they absolutely can so there are roads are not seeing any stranded motorists we want to reduce any collisions um and keep our roads as safe as possible and allow equipment to get out and get at uh what the weather is going to throw for throw at us over the next 12 to 24 hours Tyler did you have a Tyler did you have a follow-up yeah thanks uh to minister ma we've seen a few well many extreme weather episodes now over the last few years and some weather models seem to have done better at predicting them than others are you confident that Environment Canada models are sufficient to capture and communicate the risk of extreme weather we're seeing I think we're communicating the extreme risk of the weather that we're seeing right now by communicating to the public that what we're anticipating over the next 24 to 36 hours may result in extremely icy conditions we're asking people to be extremely cautious when they leave their home and go out to travel if they don't need to travel please don't I understand that these are very difficult decisions to make but we need wherever you go we want you to be safe and we need you to get there safe and if the best way to do that is to stay home we're asking you to do that as well for our next question we're going to Lisa used us city news please go ahead at some point that the highways could be closed I wonder if you could mention which ones are most likely considering where the weather is going through if you can possible that people should keep their eye on in particular Minister Fleming yes thank you very much I mentioned a highway four between Fort El Bernie and Tafino it's going to be very tricky we also expect the freezing rain to be fairly severe out in the Fraser Valley on highway 1 highway 7 and highway 11 you know we're going to have to continue with update and advise and see what conditions materialize how much snow accumulates overnight how the weather changes as it's expected to on on Friday but those are some of the areas of concern I'll ask some of the weather forecasters who have it quite well mapped out where they expect different levels of snow and freezing rain to happen throughout the south coast region to maybe add a little bit of commentary to that and and Steve if you wanted to add anything else on advisories that are pending on highways right now and the condition of the Coca-Cola at this time in the afternoon sure why don't we start with Bobby in terms of the the highways that will be most impacted by the weather of course we had the heavy snowfall and you know as mentioned places like Malhat and through the Port El Bernie area and especially Sea to Sky that's an area that we're really watching closely they could get a lot of snow so anybody traveling between Whistler and Metro Vancouver it could get quite challenging to get from one place to the other so that that's definitely on our radar for tomorrow and then of course all our routes coastal passes between the Fraser Valley and the interior all those will be impacted quite heavily by snow and then the freezing rain as well that's you know we're really looking at that eastern Fraser Valley we know in the past we've seen sections of Coca-Cola especially and even Allison Pass where they can get the freezing rain causing extremely dangerous conditions on the slippery road so we definitely want to exercise caution in those areas especially but anywhere that you're traveling on the south coast for the next two days and Steve did you have anything to add thank you ministry I'll add on a few of the other highways so yes the Coca-Cola is an area where our contractors are focused right now actively working to push snow back and I split some of the compact we're experiencing out there in preparation for the storm coming we are expecting to see some freezing rain on the on the southern or western end of that highway along with the canyon and highway three in the Allison Pass where we're also instituting a black ice protocol making sure loss of salts in the area and equipments in the area so that's our immediate focus over the short term and then I'll just add to like as this storm starts to push further into the interior our contractors are deploying all through the through the area expecting some possibility for freezing rain further into the interior and as temperatures warm avalanche conditions are also expected to rise and anticipating some cultures for avalanche control but those aren't expected until later into the into the weekend or early next week as this storm sort of progresses so continue to check drive BC for the latest updates because that will be the most current information and and Lisa did you have a follow-up nope that's all thank you thank you for our next question we're going to Benoit Ferradini radio canada please go ahead hi and thank you my question was for the french spokesperson from environment canada your question first and we'll bring him up I don't understand that I'm going to hand it over to you he could have conditions of when when we travel it could be dangerous with the most verglasante Benoit do you have a follow-up yes in french again with you thank you everyone that's all the questions we have for today thank you everyone for joining