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Intense cold weather across Canada on Saturday has prompted utility companies to issue warnings to customers and airlines to delay or cancel flights.
From the Atlantic provinces through to the Prairies, residents have been hunkered down to wait out a bone-chilling cold snap, with parts of the Prairies expected to reach lows of –55 C with the wind chill.
In Ontario, wind chill temperatures in Toronto and Ottawa fell below -30 C, and warming centres in Hamilton were forced to extend hours or open new spaces due to high demand.
An official in Montreal said the occupancy rate at warming centres exceeded 90 per cent.
Calgary police said more than 140 collisions were reported across the city, with a spokesperson attributing the high number to snowy conditions.
Nova Scotia Power implored customers to conserve energy as temperatures fall into minus double digits and higher demand for heating pushes the power system to its warning phase — meaning “the power system is forecast to approach maximum capacity,” according to its website.
Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro officials have echoed a similar warning, saying there may not be enough electricity to meet demand and rotating outages are possible.
Flights cancelled
More than 20 per cent of the more than 900 flights arriving and departing Toronto’s Pearson International Airport were cancelled between Friday and Saturday, according to the airport’s website. Another 20 per cent were delayed.
Guilherme Holtz and his family spent 11 hours on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Toronto and were looking forward to getting home to Quebec City by Saturday morning.
But their connecting flight scheduled for 8 a.m. was cancelled. He said the family was booked on another flight at 6 p.m.
“I’m hoping that it stays like that there’s no more cancellations, and we can go home,” Holtz said in an interview at Pearson.
“[I am] very tired and we just want to get home, but it’s 10 hours more to do all this whole trip. It’s very long.”
Air Canada says in a notice on its website that extreme cold at airports in Toronto and Montreal is causing delays and that customers can rebook at no cost.
WestJet has similar advisories that include airports in Halifax, Moncton, N.B., and Quebec City, as well as south of the border in Atlanta, Houston and New York City.