No serious injuries were reported on the roads, but the blizzard conditions seen over the weekend hit the whole country hard, particularly its most populous region, Harju County, as well as western Estonia.

The Transport Administration says it has over 300 machines maintaining the roads around the clock. This is allowing people to return to work on Monday.

The priority is to ensure the main highways are passable. Keeping secondary roads, particularly more exposed ones, in driving condition takes more time.

'Twice round the world'

"Problems are caused by stretches that are either along the coast or, for example, between fields. As of today, I can say that the main and regional roads are passable. Work is underway in every region on secondary roads to bring them into good or even better condition. For example, over the past three days, our maintenance machines have clocked more than 100,000 kilometers — that is, twice around the globe — which gives an idea of the work going on behind the scenes," said Jarmo Vooglaine, head of a unit at the Transport Administration.

Since Tallinn is in one of the most affected regions, issues hit the capital too, including its public transport network.

"The biggest problems have been caused by freezing. We have changed our repair readiness so that we start at 5 a.m., and by then our staff are already ready. If something happens to a bus, it is immediately repaired, fixed and put back on the line. The biggest challenge is Monday morning. We'll see what winter brings overnight," said Kaido Padar, chairman of the management board of TLT, the City of Tallinn's transport department.

Private sector operators Hansabuss and GO Bus told "Aktuaalne kaamera" that there is a lot of snow on secondary roads, meaning buses had to push their way through in the morning, with delays and minor run-offs inevitable.

In Tallinn, buses got stuck in snowdrifts in Suur-Sõjamäe as well as in Lasnamäe over the weekend.

Volunteer 4x4 vehicle owners tow stuck bus

Members of the public, too, have chipped in to help. For instance, in Saku, just outside Tallinn, owners of four-wheel-drive vehicles came together to help dozens of vehicles and their owners back on to the road, having slid off the highway, and even rescued a bus in this way on Sunday.

Ragnar Tapver, founder of 4X4abi.ee, a voluntary organization, said: "Since Friday night, I've only managed to sleep about three hours at night or in the morning, because another call comes in straight away. The wind, fresh snow and all of that make conditions so difficult that people can't cope with driving. Freezing rain as well, though we haven't had that right now, but for example, the Jüri roundabout on Saturday was very difficult to drive on: black ice underneath, fresh snow falling on top and terribly slippery."

With their winches, tow straps, hi-vis vests, lights and other necessary equipment on hand, as well as a traffic controller to keep passers-by at a safe distance, the men had a busy weekend.

In the case of the bus, a scheduled Sebe route, the vehicle had just dropped off a passenger on a side road near the village of Ääsmäe, when it slid into a culvert a little way down the road.

It took three 4X4 crews two hours to extract the 18-tonne bus from the ditch.

"With the power of three winches, it didn't actually take very much time. You definitely need calm nerves, because many people don't understand that when there's danger on the road and speed isn't reduced, you need to react quickly. You have to keep your eyes open all the time to manage that traffic," Tapver noted.

As a volunteer organization, the 4X4 samaritans do the work alongside their regular jobs.

"This is our hobby. It's like a motorcyclist in summer killing mosquitoes and then boasting afterwards about how many mosquitoes someone killed on their visor. We 'catch' cars from ditches," Tapver joked.

Deputy mayor: Rare praise for snow removal

Back in Tallinn, Deputy Mayor Kristjan Järvan (Isamaa) said he was satisfied with the authorities' responses to the weekend's heavy snowfall.

Major arterial roads, as well as some smaller streets and sidewalks, were adequately cleared of snow, despite the challenges presented by some of the city's narrower streets.

"We have received a lot of positive feedback, which in the field of snow removal is rather rare. Especially regarding the fact that we cleared the sidewalks of snow. This is entirely doable," Järvan told "Vikerhommik" on Monday.

"Our main arterial roads have been cleared, and I believe they fully meet road maintenance standards. But perhaps side streets and some sidewalks will still be brought up to standard during the course of today," the deputy mayor continued.

In some places, streets and sidewalks are too narrow for a snowplough to maneuver.

Snow clearing is one stage, but next comes snow removal. With temperatures staying low, the snow has to go somewhere, and a common practice is to take it by truck and dump it in a more suitable location, where it will melt come the spring.

This task has not always gone smoothly, however, Järvan said.

"It has to be acknowledged that transporting frozen water by truck can be quite an expensive activity. And in previous years, there have been certain suspicions about whether all the trucks that are supposed to be loaded with snow actually have as much snow on them as they should. We monitor snow removal using GPS. But on one occasion, it turned out that it was actually a passenger car that had the GPS unit installed."

The deputy mayor said he also understands homeowners' frustration when they come out in the morning to find a snowplough has built up a big snow pile in front of their driveway, but noted that the operators "don't do this out of spite," adding "when speed is required to ensure access for public transport, then unfortunately it sometimes has to give."

Crowded streets, with parked cars, cycle lanes, and other realities of urban life competing for space, exacerbate the problem, he noted.

"I will ask the department to carry out an analysis in the near future on how, in situations where a lot of snow falls quickly and hauling it out of the city is not realistically feasible, the snowbanks could be placed on cycle lanes, where there are few users in winter," he continued.

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