N.S. government setting up emergency homeless shelters ahead of Hurricane Lee

The province has released a list of shelters and supports that will be available to homeless people in Nova Scotia as Hurricane Lee continues its track toward the Maritimes.

The large storm is expected to remain near Category 1 strength as it moves into the region on Saturday. Lee will then transition to a post-tropical low throughSaturday night into Sunday.

The Department of Community Services has announced several locations across the province that will provide light meals, sleeping accommodationsstarting as early as Friday evening in some cases.

Theshelter locations arelisted below.

Halifax Regional Municipality

• Captain Spry Community Centre:16 Sussex St., 902-429-3984, opening at 6 p.m. on Friday (operated by 902 Man Up).
• St. Matthew's United Church:1479 Barrington St., 902-429-3984, opening at 6 p.m. on Friday (operated by 902 Man Up).
• Beacon House:125 Metropolitan Ave., 902-864-1584, opening at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Truro

• Haven House: 29 Arthur St., 902-843-2538, regular hours with additional beds.

New Glasgow

• Viola's Place:189 Marsh St., 902-752-0550, regular hours with additional beds.
• Pictou County Roots for Youth:603 East River Rd., 902-695-3241, regular hours with additional beds.

Cape Breton Regional Municipality

• Cape Breton Community Housing Association Extreme Weather Shelter:106 Townsend St., 902-564-9487;
• Ally Centre:75 Prince St., 902-567-1766, opening at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Berwick

• Evangeline Club:130 Commercial St., 902-679-1202, opening at 6 p.m. on Friday(operated by Open Arms).

Yarmouth

• SHYFT - 6 Trinity Pl., 902-881-3111, regular hours with additional beds.
• Yarmouth Fire Hall, 221 Pleasant St., 902-881-3111, opening 12 p.m. on Saturday (drop-in/overnight centre for adults, operated by Open SHYFT).

Bridgewater

• Seventh Day Adventist Church: 17 Greenwood St., 902-521-1141, opening at 6 p.m. on Friday (operated by South Shore Open Doors Association).

Amherst

• Holy Family Parish: 63 Church St.,902-669-2238, opening at 5 p.m. on Friday (operated by the Cumberland Homelessness and Housing Support Association).

Nova Scotia'sparks will be closing because of the approaching storm, according to a release from the Department of Natural Resources.

Provincial camping parks will close on Friday at 1 p.m. and day-use parks will close at 7 p.m.

The release saidShubenacadie Wildlife Park will be closed on Saturday.

A news release from Parks Canada saidKejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, inland and seaside, will close at noon on Friday as will all campgrounds atCape Breton Highlands National Park.

In a subsequent news release on Friday, Parks Canada said Georges Island, Grand-Pr, Fort Anne and Port-Royal would be closed on Saturday and Sunday. It said the closures would remain in place until conditions are safe.

Outages expected

Nova Scotia Power says it has been preparing for potential outages ahead of the storm.

The utility said it will be activating its emergency operations centre on Friday, and will have crews stationed throughout the province.

"Whether it's a hurricane or tropical storm, we do know that it's going to bring very high winds with it,"Matt Drover, who's in charge of preparing the utility for storms,told CBC Radio's Mainstreet Halifax on Thursday.

"And with those high winds, that will definitely have an impact on the trees and cause trees to come down on the power lines and cause outages."

Drover said the utility is already calling in crews from other provinces to help restore electricity. He said crews will be able to work on lines as long as winds are below 80 kilometres per hour.

He said the utility is better prepared to deal with significant storms after post-tropical storm Fiona swept through the province last September.

Following that storm, Drover said Nova Scotia Power cut thousands of treesaway from power lines and has installedequipment that's more resilient to high winds.

Telecommunications providers Bell, Eastlink, Rogers and Telus have posted storm related informationon their social media platforms.

Bell, Eastlink and Rogers said they are preparing to respond toany service disruptions caused by the storm by fuelling generators and deploying staff and equipment..

In an emailed statement, Telus said it does not have network infrastructure in Nova Scotia but it is working with its network partner to deploy the equipment necessary to maintain wireless service.

The Canadian Telecommunications Association, an industry group,issued a news release outlining measures consumers can take to avoid disruptions during and after a storm.

It said people should fully charge their devices before a storm and have a backup power supply to power essential Internet equipment likemodems and cordless phones.

After a storm, the association said people should preserve battery power by reducing screen brightness and turning off unnecessary services like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when they are not needed.

The association suggests using SMS or email to communicate with others and to reserve phone calls for emergencies to reduce network congestion.

It said mobile phones are designed to use whatever network is available for 911 calls even if the user's service provider does not have a working transmission tower nearbyorif the phone does not have a SIM card.