Warming centres offer shelter after ice storm darkens homes in much of N.B.
More than 100,000 people remain without power after Tuesday night's ice storm
Mathieu Cote and his two-year-old son Xavier spent Wednesday evening playing with trains at the Resurgo Place warming centre in Moncton, one of several now open across the province.
Cote and his family lost power after an ice storm swept across the province Tuesday night, leaving 130,000 NB Power customers in the dark.
As of Wednesday evening, more than 100,000 customers remain without power.
- Storm Centre New Brunswick: Check the latest closures and cancellations
- NB Power deals with 2nd-worst weather event ever
Cote said the power went out around 1:30 a.m. He noticed because the fire alarm went off but there was no fire.
After he dropped his wife off at work in the morning, she texted him that Resurgo Place was taking people in.
"We scurried on down here and Xavier has been playing with the trains here for about two and a half hours now," he said.
"It's not the end of the world but it made us think about being maybe a little more prepared for the next weather event."
Warming Centres have now opened at the following locations:
- Bouctouche: J.K. Irving Centre, 30 Évangéline St.
- Burnt Church First Nation: Bingo Hall. Snacks and drinks are provided, a ride there can be arranged by calling 506-210-0244, or 506-776-5849, or 506-779-5602.
- Eel Ground First Nation: Natoaganeg Community Food Centre, 47 Church Road.
- Hampton: Community Centre, 808 Main Street. Open until 6:30 p.m, showers are available until 4 p.m.
- Memramcook: Memramcook arena. Open until midnight, with canteen services available for part of the evening. For more information call 506-758-4050.
- Miramichi: Golden Hawk Recreation Centre, 8 Pollard Ave.
- Miramichi: Goodie Shop, 20 Fountain Head Lane. Residents can call 506-623-2066 and a city transit bus will pick them up and take them to the Golden Hawk or Goodie Shop shelter. Both shelters ask that residents bring their own chargers for electricity, as well as pillows and blankets for overnight stays. Food and snacks will be provided.
- Miramichi: The Point Church, 582 King George Hwy. Open from 5 p.m. until midnight.
- Moncton: YMCA. Bring photo ID and a towel if you want to take a shower.
- New Maryland: Fire hall. The centre was originally located at the New Maryland Centre but it closed at 4:30 p.m. and moved to the fire hall. For questions, call Chief Farrell at 506-450-8711.
- Paquetville: Manoir Edith B Pinet, 1189 des Fondateurs St.
- Riverview: The Coverdale Centre (closed at 10 p.m. but will re-open Thursday at 9 a.m.)
- Rexton: Fire hall.
- Rogersville: Municipal Office.
- Shediac: Multipurpose Centre
- Pointe-du-Chêne: Recreational Centre
- Riverview: Coverdale Recreation Centre. Open until 10 p.m.
NB Power crews continued to restore power throughout Wednesday. The power company also bringing in additional crews to respond to the outages, which were the result of high winds and falling trees, as well as ice build-up on transmission and electricity lines.
The bulk of the outages were in the Moncton area, where at least 27,000 households were affected.
As of about 7:25 p.m., there were also more than 18,300 outages on the Acadian Peninsula, over 17,000 in the Northumberland and Miramichi area, and more than 11,800 in Kent County.
The utility is expected to have 245 crews working by the end of the day from NB Power, Nova Scotia Power and local and external contractors.
- Staying safe after ice storm: let the pros remove trees from power lines, NB Power says
- Storm's a-brewin': Are you ready?
People appreciative of warming centres
Molly Hall, who lives near the university in Moncton, was also staying at Resurgo Place on Wednesday. She said her power went off Tuesday night, so she checked for a warming centre on Facebook.
She appreciates that Resurgo Place has opened its doors to people like her who would otherwise have to stay in a cold home.
"I had to carry a lantern around with me (Tuesday) night and (Wednesday) morning," she said.
"I don't have power so I came to warm up, charge my phone and do some reading where there's light."