Just a day after the city released a statement on the work it's doing to clear streets of the recently fallen snow, Peggy Smarch found herself having to shovel the hard-packed snow that graders left in front of her mother's Arkell home.

"I know this has been a problem for several years,” Smarch said in an interview Tuesday afternoon. She spoke after shovelling the windrow in front of her mom's house so she could get to an appointment.

As Smarch explained, her mother is in her 70s and lives on her own. She is on the city's list of seniors and those with disabilities who are eligible to have the snow removed by city Bobcats.

But rarely does the city show up quickly enough, Smarch said. That leaves her mother and other senior neighbours on Heron Drive stuck inside their homes until the city eventually decides to show up, she added.

Smarch is often out of town for weeks or months at a time working in Alberta. Last year, she said, her mother ended up hiring a Bobcat service herself to come in and deal with the windrows left by city crews on the roads because the city took so long to get there. It's something she's now considering again for this winter.

Yesterday, Smarch said, she was glad she was here when her mom called so she could get her out, though it's left her wondering what will happen when she leaves shortly for another stint of work.

Shovelling the hard-packed snow was no easy task. She saw other elders, perhaps also tired of waiting for city Bobcats, come out and try to shovel themselves. One woman had such difficulty she ended up giving up and going back inside.

It's not healthy for seniors to strain their bodies by shovelling, Smarch argued.

When she contacted the city, she said she was essentially told the Bobcat would be there when it could get there.

"The city doesn't really want to do anything,” Smarch said.

It was only after she told city staff she was contacting the media that crews showed up on the street in the late morning, she said. She wondered what would happen if there was an emergency and vehicles were unable to get in.

"I've just basically had it with them,” Smarch said, adding she wonders how many other seniors are in the same boat as her mother.

Mike Gau, the city's acting director of operations, said Tuesday there are just over 100 seniors with disabilities on the city's list of those to have the windrows removed.

Seniors without younger people living in the home, and those with disabilities, must fill out an application and show some form of proof of their age or disability.

"(Tuesday), we had three Bobcats going at full speed,” he said.

Smarch suggested the city graders could somehow deal with each of the homes as they come to them, or have a Bobcat follow the graders as they clear to deal with the windrows. Gau noted that could end up taking even longer to clear city streets, which are priorized for clearing by a city policy.

Just as the city priorizes what roads are cleared of snow first, it can do the same for those eligible to get their windrows removed.

If the city knows a resident on the list for windrow removal has an appointment, Gau said, they will work to have the Bobcat at the home to deal with the windrow in time for the resident to make it to wherever he or she needs to be on time.

Had crews known the woman had an appointment Tuesday, they likely would have been on the street sooner, he said. He also acknowledged the woman may not have known that.

In the past though, the city has headed to particular areas where people have indicated they need to be out of their homes at a set time.

Getting to 100 homes where people are all waiting for the same service can take time, Gau stressed. Emergency vehicles are equipped to be able to get through windrows.

Mayor Bev Buckway emphasized Monday that street-clearing can take some time, though crews have been working around the clock to do so.

"Over the past few days, Whitehorse has experienced a significant amount of snowfall, and as a result, city graders and sanding trucks have been out in force,” she said in a statement.

"As it will take a little bit of time to ensure that all roads are clear, I encourage all drivers to exercise appropriate caution when driving.”

Major arterial roads including Two Mile Hill, Robert Service Way and Second and Fourth avenues are the first priority for snow-clearing, with major roads in subdivisions being the next priority, followed by all remaining streets.

"We're asking all motorists to be aware of road conditions and leave sufficient distance between your car and major equipment such as graders and sanders,” the mayor said.