Shelters packed, planes grounded as snow hits B.C., cold grips Prairies

VANCOUVER (CP) - First it was the rain. Now, it's snow that's causing havoc on Canada's usually wet coast. Two weeks ago, torrential rains triggered boil-water advisories for more than one million people. For 900,000 of them, that warning remains in place.

On Saturday, wet snow began to fall on the Vancouver region, prompting homeless shelters to scramble to find space for hundreds of street dwellers and transport officials to warn of delays.

Snow is forecast through Wednesday with the possibility of sun on Tuesday.

Such conditions led to homeless shelters being filled to bursting in Vancouver and Victoria.

"Certainly, it's been very busy for the Salvation Army in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, there's no doubt about that," said Salvation Army Capt. John Murray.

He said as of Sunday, the army had not had to implement its extreme cold weather measures in Vancouver.

"We anticipate that over the next 72 hours as the temperature does drop, those beds are going to become critically, extremely important to the people on the streets," Murray said.

In Victoria, the demand for beds led to the opening of a church in neighbouring Esquimalt to provide another 25 beds above what Victoria can offer.

At Vancouver International Airport on Sunday afternoon, most arrivals were either late or cancelled. Virtually no flights departed on time, if at all.

Spokeswoman Jody Holgate said many regional flights had been cancelled due to the weather.

Through much of Sunday, the airport was alternating between its two runways, with one in use as the other was being cleared.

"As long as it keeps snowing at the current rate, we'll continue with that," Holgate said. "That ensures there's always one runway that's clear."

For a variety of storm-related reasons, about 14,000 thousand B.C. Hydro customers were without power throughout the Lower Mainland on Sunday.

Slippery road conditions on Sunday morning were being blamed for at least one death.

In the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, RCMP say a passenger was killed when a vehicle crossed the centre line and was struck by an oncoming vehicle.

It was one of many serious accidents throughout the province.

While the temperature in Vancouver hovered around freezing, in northern British Columbia the mercury plummeted.

At Fort St. John airport, 1,600 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, a high of -26C was forecast for Monday.

The bitter cold that has gripped most of the Prairies for days may have been a factor in at least three deaths in Alberta.

The body of a homeless man was found Saturday morning on a Calgary street.

The bodies of a couple who had been living in a school bus outside Edmonton were found, frozen solid, last Thursday.

Shelters around Alberta made extra beds available on the weekend to try to ensure the homeless had a place to stay warm.

The home of the world-famous Calgary Stampede was being used as a temporary overflow emergency shelter.

Winter made an early, bone-chilling appearance in Saskatchewan with Regina and area included in a broad storm watch issued by Environment Canada.

Up to 10 centimetres of snow was expected Sunday through Monday over southern Saskatchewan.

Frigid conditions were expected to continue Monday as the disturbance over British Columbia headed toward Saskatchewan.

© The Canadian Press, 2006