Advocates raise concern over safety of homeless, impoverished during B.C. heat wave
CTV
An outreach team for the Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver has been working in the city's Downtown Eastside to ensure people are aware and are prepared to cope with the latest heat spike across parts of B.C.
An outreach team for the Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver has been working in the city's Downtown Eastside to ensure people are aware and are prepared to cope with the latest heat spike across parts of B.C.
Mission spokeswoman Nicole Mucci says those who are experiencing mental illness, homelessness or who have chronic health conditions are most at risk of illness and death during such heat waves.
Record-breaking temperatures moved into southern B.C. on Sunday and then spread, prompting heat warnings and special weather statements across southern and central B.C., and into southern Alberta.
In Vancouver, Environment Canada says daytime temperatures will reach up to 37 C, with overnight lows of about 17 C that it expects will continue in the region until Wednesday.
Mucci says staff have been handing out water, hats and sunscreen and are encouraging people living on the Downtown Eastside to seek out cooling stations during the day and stay in shelters at night.
B.C.'s Ministry of Emergency Management has said a repeat of the 2021 heat dome, which claimed more than 600 lives, is not in the forecast but it warns people to take precautions to stay out of the heat, drink water and limit activity.
The coroner's report from the 2021 event said most of the deaths happened indoors and were adults above 60 years old who didn't have air conditioning. It said the number of deaths for those living in poverty was “lower than may have been expected.”
