Canadian Forces help rescue residents from cold homes
Residents sent to warming centres after being found in cold houses
A Canadian soldier from the Acadian Peninsula helping victims of the ice storm in the region says she has rescued people suffering from hypothermia in their homes.
Aviator Suzanne Roussell began going door-to-door Monday in the Pointe-Sauvage and Le Goulet areas. She said the goal was to check if people were well and if they weren't too cold. As a result of her visits, she helped three people with hypothermia.
Door knocks by <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadianForces">@CanadianForces</a> may have saved this woman's life. <br>Major Yoann Leclerc-Desjardins explains <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBStorm?src=hash">#NBStorm</a><a href="https://t.co/4maA6CdwdK">https://t.co/4maA6CdwdK</a> <a href="https://t.co/TqW9Rh4zkm">pic.twitter.com/TqW9Rh4zkm</a>
—@ChrisEnsingCBC"I was taking their temperature. Those that were around 35 or 35.5 degrees, because the normal body temperature is 37 degrees, we tried to direct them [to a shelter]," she told Radio-Canada.
Roussell said they worked with a volunteer who took them to the warming centre in Lamèque to take hot showers and warm up.
Two people died from carbon monoxide poisoning and 42 people were hospitalized after a severe ice storm blew through New Brunswick Jan. 24 and 25. At its peak, the storm left 130,000 customers without power across the province.
After the ice storm, some residents resorted to using generators, space heaters, barbecues and camping equipment as a source of heat inside their homes.
So cold could see breath
But others had no alternate source of heat.
Roussell said it was so cold in some houses that she could see her breath. In one house, the temperature was 0 C.
She added all people she visited were co-operative and always greeted her with a big smile.
In many cases, says Roussell, those who needed help the most were elderly people who did not ask for help. That's what surprised her most during the week.
"They're very embarrassed. They have always been independent and are not used to being helped. They are accustomed to fending for themselves. That's what people explained to me," said Roussell.
Progress can now be seen on repairs to the hydro poles and lines and Roussell said many are now seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
As of 6:20 p.m. AT, there were about 620 customers without power on the Acadian Peninsula.
With files from Radio-Canada, Chris Ensing