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A state of emergency has been declared in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, where an ongoing power outage is expected to continue into Friday.
Meantime, a blizzard warning was in effect for the community Thursday night and overnight temperatures were expected to drop below –40 C with wind chill.
A public notice from the hamlet on Thursday afternoon said the local warming centre would close at 9 p.m., and reopen at 9 a.m. The hamlet is offering money to anybody who has heat at home and can host others overnight.
People who host others can receive up to $50 per person, per night, the hamlet says. It’s asking people to use social media to let others know if they have space for guests.
The hamlet also says that once power is fully restored, it may be “a few days before some units are ready to move back into.” It says the hamlet is working with territorial officials to minimize any damage to homes.
The outage began late Wednesday afternoon according to social media posts by the Qulliq Energy Corporation (QEC).
Power came back online to some parts of the community in the hours that followed. But the hamlet didn’t open a warming centre at the high school gym until late Thursday morning. The Nunavut Water Board also opened its doors to the public Thursday afternoon.
“Now that power has taken longer than anticipated, [the] hamlet is working on a warm place for people with power,” the hamlet wrote on a social media post earlier on Thursday.
Laura Tavalok was one of the lucky ones to have her power restored. But she has other family members in the community who are still without power, and they’re having to stay with relatives to keep warm. Temperatures reached -49 C with wind chill on Thursday morning.
Tavalok said there are many elders and infants in the community who were left cold with no solution for hours.
“It took over maybe like 14 hours to 16 hours to finally have a place for the other people that were cold and hungry and tired and had nowhere to go,” she said.
In the future, Tavalok said she wants to see the hamlet create back-up plans it can take action on quickly to keep people warm when there’s a prolonged power outage.
CBC News has attempted to reach the hamlet for comment, but has yet to hear back.
The weather conditions have prevented a line crew from flying into the community to do more repairs, though QEC said a charter plane is heading there Thursday evening.
This is yet another blow to Gjoa Haven residents, who have been struggling with getting water deliveries after a large leak in a water pipe in January.
In February, the Health department said it was seeing a rise in gastroenteritis (stomach flu) in the community, and residents are under a boil water advisory that’s still in effect today.