The predicted disaster ultimately did not occur on Friday morning: the sidewalks and streets did not turn into ice rinks, since the freezing rain only fell briefly and the temperature was milder than expected.
At Urgences-santé, we breathed a sigh of relief, since the icy episode on Thursday morning caused the number of calls to explode, especially due to falls.
“Thursday, between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., we had double our usual calls,” said the organization’s spokesperson, Jean-Pierre Rouleau.
Number of calls received on January 25, 2024
- 7 a.m. to 8 a.m.: 84
- 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.: 110
- Usual number of calls: 40 per hour on average
“Approximately 25% of calls involved falls, both indoor and outdoor. We ended the day with 1,200 calls, including 172 for falls,” continues Mr. Rouleau.
Average call volume is typically 900-1000 per day.
During the previous episode of ice, on January 11, Urgences-santé received 1,400 calls in a single day.
When the volume of calls increases in this way, the organization must call employees back to work overtime and take other measures to meet the demand, but the public is warned that the waiting time may be longer for non-urgent calls.
On the City of Montreal side, we were also delighted to see that the layer of ice was not as thick as expected.
“Everything is going according to plan: we did preventive spraying all night. Our streets and sidewalks are safe at the moment,” indicated spokesperson Philippe Sabourin mid-morning.