Pooling water, lane closures on tap in wake of B.C. winter storm

The snow and freezing rain may have stopped falling on Metro Vancouver, but the effects of this week's winter storm are still being felt.

Warming temperatures and rain are contributing to a rapid melt of the nearly 30 centimetres of snow on the ground, causing water to pool in intersections and parking lots.

Standing water on roads and highways is also a possible hazard drivers should be aware of.

"Areas that are prone to flooding are definitely areas that we're going to be targeting with our maintenance contractors," said Ashok Bhatti, executive director for the South Coast with B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation.

"With this level of precipitation, there may still be some pockets where there is water pooling."

Prior to the storm, the Ministry of Transportation warned about the possibility that some Lower Mainland bridges might need to be shut down because of the potential for hazardous chunks of ice falling from cables.

In the end, that did not happen, thanks in part to the maintenance system in place where large chains wrapped around the cables are dropped to scrape away snow and ice build up.

Those chains will now need to be reinstalled at the top of the bridges, and that means drivers will see ongoing lane closures on both the Port Mann and Alex Fraser bridges.

"(It’s) to reload and get ready for the next event. So those closures will remain in place as we get ready for the next round of events and we do appreciate people's patience on that," Bhatti said.