In the wake of a most unseasonable January thaw over the last three days, city councillor Ted Laking asked for an update on snow and ice-clearing efforts during Monday evening’s meeting.

Temperatures soared to 8 C Monday, causing a rash of problems around the city.

That was especially true on Second Avenue across from the Burnt Toast Café and Range Road, where there are incomplete repairs from construction work last year.

“Given what we’ve seen in the community today with unseasonably warm temperatures and rain, and messy roads and flooding in various areas, I thought it might be a good opportunity to allow administration to give an update to us and to the community as to what work has been undertaken in the last 24 hours to deal with this unprecedented situation,” Laking said.

Tracy Allen, the city’s director of infrastructure, said staff had been working “full-time and overtime” on the problems.

“We called in all available operators to work on clearing snow in problem drainage areas as well as trucking out ponding water and steaming so that the water has somewhere to drain,” Allen said.

“We are having, obviously, some very challenging conditions. The crews are working overtime to clear up as many of the hot spots as they can and will continue to do so.”

Allen added, “I would like to ask people to (have) patience, to remove all obstacles from the road so that we can get in and clear as efficiently as possible.”

She also advised the public to “drive and walk with caution over the next few days as the temperatures are expected to plummet again and will create incredibly slippery and icy conditions.”

The public was quick to comment on some of these issues.

Range Road and Second Avenue were the subject of the ire of several of these complaints.

Kaitlin Normandin posted on social media, “Range Road between Yukon U drive and Mountainview is severely washboarded/pothole city, avoid if you can.”

Katherine Coffey added, “There is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, pothole for rent on 2nd Ave beside the old bus stop. Be careful, it’s really bad.”

“There’s a massive pothole going into Riverdale by riverside as well,” stated Alex Vanderkley.

Sidewalks in the downtown core this morning were also treacherous, as were some of the walking trails.

The city said Monday it’s rushing to handle all the weather-related problems before a cold snap moves in later this week. It’s forecast to fall to about -30 C by Friday and into the weekend in Whitehorse.

In a post on its social media feeds, the city said, “Crews are on 2nd Avenue between Main Street and Steele Street working to repair large potholes caused by the unseasonable rainfall and melting conditions.

“Traffic will be reduced to a single-lane to give crews the space to clear as much water as possible before filling the holes with crushed gravel.

“This temporary solution will improve road conditions in the area until asphalt can be installed,” the post continued.

“In the meantime, road users are asked to be mindful of the equipment and drive to conditions throughout the city.

“Everyone is watching the colder temperatures in the forecast, and working as fast as they can to drain/move the unseasonable melt. The water and waste team is opening up storm drains to allow standing water to drain from roadways.

“At this time of year, the storm drains are usually frozen, like everything else above ground.

“But it’s now +4 and raining, so we have small lakes around the city. They’re using steamers to open up the catch basins to get water moving. Some puddles aren’t draining well because the outfall pipe is below the surface of the Yukon River. The river level is high, so nothing is draining in those sections.”

The city also says transportation crews are plowing major arterial routes to alleviate drainage off of roadways.

“Crews may be working in your neighbourhood without advanced warning,” the city cautioned residents.

“Watch for snow removal crews working and please give them room.”