The City of Portage la Prairie's public works department is hard at work to clear streets, after heavy snowfall in the area the past two days. City Public Works Manager Brian Taylor says crews began working last night, but there's still much to be done.

"We worked a little later last night ... (but) we left it because we don't want to be working in the middle of a blizzard," Taylor says. "Crews came in early this morning. At this point now, it's nine hours later and we are still digging out a lot of the roads that have been totally blocked in."

He says some residential streets were cleared during the blizzard, as well as main routes going to the city's industrial area. Taylor says priority routes will begin to be plowed today, and will hopefully be completed tomorrow -- if the weather cooperates.

He says crews are working double shifts to ensure everything's completed as quickly as possible. As for residential streets, the hope is snow clearing can begin tomorrow. Taylor adds it takes about three-and-a-half days to fully complete plowing residential areas.

He urges anyone in Portage to refrain from parking on streets in the coming days. This allows snowplows to move freely, and ensures cars don't get buried behind snowbanks.