Edmonton to start up cold weather response plan Monday morning

The City of Edmonton is activating its extreme weather response plan with the weather forecast calling for cold temperatures over the next eight days.

The city activates the plan when temperatures go below -20 C with wind chill for three consecutive days.

From Monday at 9 a.m. until Jan. 8, the city will run additional buses on a western route to take people to open shelter spaces.

The western bus from Kingsway Transit Centre to downtown joins two regular shuttles to shelters, which run along northern and southern routes nightly until 6 a.m. (until March 31) to take people to available shelter beds.

The northern route runs from Northgate Transit Centre to downtown, while the southern route runs from Southgate Transit Centre to downtown.

The Al Rashid Mosque on 113 Street at 130 Avenue will open an overnight shelter providing an additional 50 beds in response to the extreme weather measures.

During the day, city buildings such as libraries and recreation centres will be open for people trying to stay warm.

Day shelter will also be available at the Bissell Centre (10530 96 St.), Boyle Street Community Services (15308 Stony Plain Road), Canora Community Impact Centre (10105 153 St.), Mosaic Centre (6504 132 Ave.) and Strathcona Baptist Church Community Impact Centre (8318 104 St.)

If you see someone sheltering outside, call 211 and ask for the crisis diversion team.