Cold temperatures coupled with a substantial wind chill prompted the City of Victoria to reopen its warming centre Tuesday at James Bay United Church, following an extreme-weather alert issued Monday.
The warming centre was open Tuesday from noon to 8 p.m., and will be in operation again Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The temperature with the wind chill Tuesday morning dropped as low as -9 C, and was expected to fall to -10 C overnight and return to -9 C Wednesday morning.
That’s not quite record-breaking, which would require overnight lows of -6 to -8, rather than the -3 range we have been experiencing, said Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist.
But it’s “definitely a reminder winter isn’t quite over,” Lundquist said.
A warming trend will begin on Thursday, when the daytime high is forecast to reach 5 C.
Tanya Patterson, Victoria’s emergency program co-ordinator, said the warming centre is opened when temperatures drop to zero or colder with extreme winds. The centre reached its full capacity of 30 during snowy weather in December and early January, Patterson said.
Our Place, which offers a range of social services, has heaters in its Pandora Avenue courtyard for clients and oversees shelters with mattresses at the Cool Aid Society’s Downtown Community Centre gymnasium and at First Metropolitan United Church.
A man in the courtyard who gave his name as Juju said he has been sleeping in a shelter space provided by Our Place.
“Nobody should be suffering in the cold,” he said. “Might be able to see better times and better days.”
Roberta Touchie, an outreach worker with the Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness, said many of the people she deals with are commenting on how cold it is. She said she saw one young man who had a fire going in a coffee can.
“That was one of the ways he was staying warm.”
Having warm coats and blankets ready to give out in the winter is important, said Our Place spokesman Grant McKenzie.
Also available for those in need is the Salvation Army Addiction and Rehabilitation Centre, where there are 30 co-ed beds available through the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness Extreme Weather Response.
Soup is served in the evening, and cereal or porridge in the morning.
Emergency Weather Response co-ordinator Nina Grossman said staffing is being worked out for the rest of the week so the service is available. “We’ve been able to open every night we’ve needed to so far.”
One concern is that organizations are still waiting to hear whether there will be any pandemic-related restrictions on capacity.
“We haven’t had notice yet from B.C. Housing about capacity, and that’s sector-wide,” Grossman said. “Hopefully we’ll soon have notice that shelters can go back up to full capacity.”
The cold weather came with strong winds, and more than 2,000 B.C. Hydro customers were without power Tuesday on Vancouver Island.
On the south Island, 1,980 customers were affected as of 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, including pockets in the Cordova Bay, Blenkinsop and Rockland areas. About 370 customers were affected on the north Island.
The Island total was under 1,400 by early Tuesday afternoon.
