Miramichi warming centres will stay open indefinitely

Almost 17,000 people across New Brunswick'sNorthumberland region were still experiencing power outages Wednesday night, including Miramichi's mayor.

"I've been out of power since early this morning," said AdamLordon at a warming station in the city.

Two stations have been set up for residents without power: One in the Newcastle square, above The Goodie Shoppe restaurant, and another at the Golden Hawk Recreation Centre.

"We'll make sure everybody has something to eat," said Lordon

"We want to makesure nobody is hungry and nobody goes cold in this city."

Miramichi transit pitching in

For residents of Miramichi who have no means of transportation, Miramichi Transit has set up a special hotline.

Residents can call 506-623-2066, and a transit bus will be dispatched to pick them upand transport them to a warming centre.

The main warming centre, at the Golden Hawk Recreation Centre in Chatham, will remain open indefinitely. Lordon says some NB Power estimates have outages extending into the weekend.

At the Newcastle location, only a handful of people so far have taken advantage of the warming centre.

"A lot of people are just coming to charge their cell phones and are going back home," said city employee Holly Ellison, taking a break from her usual post as Aquatics Director.

"Today my job is basically to register people coming into the warming centre."

Ellison and another volunteer offered coffee, tea, and snacks to those who stopped by to warm up. Several children were among the visitors.

One, Landon Doyle, had a prediction:

"We're not going to have school until Friday!" he said.

Citizens asked to conserve water

Miramichi's wells depend on the NB Power circuit, so Lordon and his council are asking residents to conserve water.

"We've been working closely withour director of public works, the police chief, the whole team in a nerve centre based out of our city's policestation," he said.

While some city streets have flooded, most of the threat has subsided.

Trees are down around the city, and drivers are urged to travel slowly and with caution.