TORONTO/MONTREAL, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The city of Toronto on Friday scrambled to find emergency shelter space for the homeless as temperatures plunged to record lows, while tens of thousands of people remained in the dark in Eastern Canada because of extreme weather.
The temperature hit -23 Celsius (-9 Fahrenheit) at Toronto's international airport at around 6 a.m. EST, marking the coldest Jan. 5 on record, Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson said by phone, adding that the previous record was set in 1959. The icy spell is expected to continue through Sunday morning.
"This particular stretch of days is some of the coldest we've seen in a while, especially when factoring in the wind chill," Coulson said.
Environment Canada has issued an extreme cold warning for Toronto, Canada's largest city, where the winds made the temperature feel like -31C (-24F) on Friday.
Toronto Mayor John Tory this week asked the federal government's permission to use the city's armories as temporary shelters, after some activists criticized the city for blocking a similar plan last month.
Municipal shelters were near full capacity on Thursday, being used by 5,491 people, according to a city website.
The cold contributed to the death of an elderly couple in Bluewater, a town on the shore of Lake Huron that is some 200 kilometers west of Toronto.
Grant Triebner, 90, was found dead inside a barn on the couple's property. His wife Ada, 83, perished outside the barn while checking on her husband, CBC reported.
Temperatures also plunged in Montreal and Ottawa. Eastern parts of the Quebec province were hit with up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) of snow, according to Environment Canada.
More than 38,000 utility customers in Nova Scotia were without power as of 1:30 PM EST on Friday, following a massive storm that hit the region on Thursday, with wind speeds that hit 100 kilometers (60 miles) an hour.