Extreme cold warnings remain in place as the fallout from the worst winter storm of the season continues to be felt across the Kingston region.
The brutally cold temperatures forced the cancellation of school buses Monday to prevent children from freezing at bus stops. In fact, Tri-Board Student Transportation Services has already cancelled bus service for Tuesday as well.
The extreme cold and wind chill forced buses off the roads for a number of reasons.
“No. 1 is safety for all our students and when it gets to the -25 to -30 C a few things can happen,” said Tony Reuves, the maintenance supervisor at Stock Transportation in Kingston. “We can have coolant leaks from engines being so cold and pipes being so cold they start to leak so we could have problems like that.”
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The cold snap also has some people patrolling the streets to make sure the homeless get in from the cold.
Tom Greening is the Executive Director of Home Base Housing which includes In From The Cold emergency shelter.
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“This is the city’s shelter for single adults. We have 35-bed capacity,” said Greening. “We have other shelters in the city as well: Lily’s Place shelter for families and the Kingston Youth shelter on Brock Street. All the shelters have been very busy and, obviously, there’s been concern for people having to spend any time outside these days.”
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Located at the back of the building at 540 Montreal Street, In From The Cold is the largest shelter in the Limestone City.
Greening says one of their biggest concerns is people suffering from mental illness or other disorders who need a warm place to stay.
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Issues may continue until a milder air mass begins to move into the region by midweek.
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