MONTREAL — The mercury dipped to -38 degrees Celsius with the wind chill around 4 a.m. Thursday in Montreal, meaning a huge swath of the city felt the grip of Old Man Winter.
The cold temperatures are especially difficult for the estimated 30,000 homeless people living in the city.
“It’s been pretty full,” said Vincent Ozrout, who works at a shelter. The café the mission runs during the day has been packed with people coming in from the cold. But the main problem is where they go at night, he said. The mission’s Clark Street shelter only has room for 300 beds, and many homeless feel confined in a shelter.
“They spend the night outside. When it’s very cold, they spend the night walking around,” he said.
“When it’s daytime, they don’t have another place to rest or sleep, so we deal with people who are extremely tired.”
WATCH: Caring for Montreal’s homeless during the winter
Those who work outside also have a hard time with issues such as frostbite, and the MUHC is warning people to make sure they leave home prepared for the cold.
“The problem for us is that frostbite doesn’t hurt as you’re getting frostbitten,” said Dr. Beatrice Wang, a dermatologist with the MUHC. “It’s only afterward that you realize you’ve been frostbit.”
The SPCA is also throwing its voice into the calls for cold weather safety. The group is warning pet owners to be careful with their animals in this sort of weather.
“The extremities of the animal tend to get frostbitten; the ears, the tail, the paws, they can all be damaged,” said Anita Kapuscinska.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the next couple days, we got some cats with frostbitten tails or even frostbitten ears.”
READ MORE: Hydro-Quebec urges Quebecers to limit electricity use
With the falling temperatures comes an up-tick in power usage.
“The last historical peak was the 22nd of January, where we had reached 39,000 Megawatts,” said Hydro-Quebec spokesperson Marie-Elaine Deveault, “and today we reached 38,800.”
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