The City of Kamloops has tallied the numbers, and as it turns out, the Sandman Centre was utilized more than originally thought this past week through the period of high-heat last week.
Health and Wellness Supervisor Linda Stride says over the course of the seven days the Sandman Centre was open as a cooling facility, a total of 572 people rolled through the doors, with a peak of just under 120 people on Saturday, July 30.
“I think part of that is with the heat, for the first couple of days people feel they can manage, and they can do okay, but day after day, when you’ve had temperatures of 35 C to 38C , by the third and fourth day, people are really looking for respite,” she said. “I think it was a huge success.”
“Even if you are not looking at the numbers, I had an opportunity to talk with a few citizens who were utilizing the cooling centre and they were incredibly grateful for the opportunity to come in, and they would just sit and whether they did puzzles, or a couple of them would come in to do just a little bit of a walk.”
Speaking on the NL Noon Report, Stride says they don’t anticipate changing much if another heat warning is issued this summer, except for opening an additional pair of cooling centers in the city.
“In the next heat event, if we are able to, we would like to open up the two other centres, which one was in Parkview Community Hall and then the Valleyview Community Hall,” Stride said, noting next time, these centers will be staffed by volunteers rather than city staff who had to be utilized last week.
Like in previous years, the city of Kamloops intends to open indoor and outdoor community cooling centers during levels of extreme heat using the 35-18-35 forecast – a daytime high of at least 35 C followed by a nighttime low of at least 18 C, for two days in a row.
“We take direction from Environment and Climate Change Canada,” Stride told NL News last month. “So when they indicate there is an alert, we then activate [our cooling centres.]”
You’ll find more on the City’s heat response plan here.
– With files from Victor Kaisar
