Those living on the mid-island are still digging themselves out after a major snowstorm brought far more snow than forecasters expected.

City of Nanaimo street-clearing crews cut through icy roads Monday, the aftermath of a storm that slammed the region Sunday morning.

While the city's public works department expected between three and six centimetres of snow, nearly 30 centimetres fell in parts of the city within 12 hours.

"We started phoning people and waking them up," said public works manager David Myles. "Our night patrol was on and so we raised the alarm and started bringing staff in through the evening, and started putting them out on the road as soon as they came in."

A day later, many were still shovelling the snow off their sidewalks and driveways

Only light flurries are forecast throughout the rest of the week on eastern Vancouver Island, and further south in Greater Victoria, an early blast of spring weather has given way to the bitter cold of winter once more.

Environment Canada says daytime highs up and down the coast will hover near-freezing this week.