Siksika Nation declares state of local emergency due to extreme cold

Siksika Nation declared a state of local emergency on Saturday morning due to extreme cold weather.

In a Facebook post at around 9:21 a.m., Siksika Nation Tribal Administration said ATCO had notified the nation that regulators were down, leaving some homes in the area without power.

At 11:11 a.m., the state of local emergency was declared.

On Saturday afternoon, heating has been restored to some homes in the area but the state of local emergency was not lifted.

ATCO said in a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it is aware of outages in Siksika Nation and said gas service has been restored.

This comes as temperatures in Calgary and the surrounding areas were expected to fluctuate between -28 C to -33 C on Saturday, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Siksika Nation members without heat in their homes have been directed to go to the Siksika Deerfoot Sportsplex. Those who need transportation to get to the Sportsplex should call 403-734-3815.

Families with elders and children were asked to call Tom Many Heads at 403-361-1527 to arrange hotel accommodations.

The Siksika Nation Tribal Administration said the state of local emergency would remain for a few days until the emergency has dissipated.