With temperatures expected to hit record lows, and more snow in the forecast, the non-profit Lookout Housing and Health Society announced an “extreme weather resource” would open 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 26, in the gymnasium of Douglas Park Elementary School at 5409 206th St. in Langley City.
Terry Brock, Lookout director of health, Fraser Region, told the Langley Advance Times they hope to be able to accommodate up to 45 homeless people in need of a warm place during the current cold snap.
“People who don’t have an address in the community,” Brock explained.
Douglas Park school will be open 24 hours a day, he said.
Contact number for the site is 604-230-6457.
There will be meals and food provided through the week, and crates for dogs and cats, courtesy of Langley Animal Protection Society.
Anyone who can contribute granola bars, juice boxes and water is asked to contact Langley community representative Leith White at 778-892-9785.
Donations for supplies and/or food services can be directed by credit card through Langley Vineyard Church at https://www.langleyvineyard.com/giving-1, with a tax receipt to be issued.
Environment Canada warned that arctic outflow winds and falling temperatures will combine to produce wind chill values below minus 20 until Wednesday in Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Sea to Sky Highway, Whistler, as well as the mainland inlets of the Sunshine Coast and Comox and Campbell River.
It predicted near record cold temperatures early in the week, saying an arctic ridge of high pressure over the B.C. interior will bring “strong and bitterly cold outflow winds to coastal communities.”
The outflow winds will create wind chill values of minus 20 and below.
READ ALSO: Langley shelter busy as cold weather hits homeless
Mainland inlets and areas that are exposed to outflow winds are more likely to experience these very cold wind chill values.
Temperatures will remain well below seasonal norms and will bottom out with near record cold temperatures early in the week, but are expected to improve on Wednesday as temperatures increase.
Under such conditions, the agency said, frostbite and hypothermia can occur within minutes if adequate precautions are not taken when outdoors.
Any outdoor activity exposes people to an increased risk of frostbite.
READ ALSO: Dreams of white Christmas come true in Vancouver, while cold grips Prairies
Have a story tip? Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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