Image Credit: Shutterstock
November 22, 2015 - 11:57 AM
KAMLOOPS – The extreme weather alert issued last week, which had the shelter in the Kamloops pulling out all the stops to house homeless people due to the cold weather, has been temporarily cancelled.
Canadian Mental Health Association executive director Christa Mullaly says she realizes with the winter storm in the forecast she will likely be reactivating the alert on Tuesday when overnight temperatures are predicted to plunge to -9 Celsius thanks to an Arctic front pushing into the region.
The alert was activated Nov. 18 when the mercury was forecast to drop to -7 C that night, the threshold for activation. Nasty weather, like freezing or heavy rain and high winds, can also have the Mental Health Association issue an alert.
Mullaly says they also take into consideration there is another resource open, the Out of the Cold shelter at St. Paul’s Cathedral, which operates on Sunday and Wednesday night’s during the fall and winter. Although Out of the Cold isn’t designated an official extreme weather shelter.
When an alert is in effect, the Mental Health Association is committed to accepting everyone who arrives at the Emerald Centre in need of emergency housing.
Mullaly says they have 35 beds for both men and woman at the Centre, but during an alert, they bring in mats and bunk beds so no one is turned away.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015