How cold is it
Creaking Houses Prompt Reports of Gunfire
Wed Jan 19, 2005 01:35 PM ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) - A cold spell gripping Ottawa is so intense that houses have started to produce loud cracking noises, prompting worried citizens to report burglaries and gunfire, local police said Wednesday.
Spokeswoman Monique Ackland said police had received around 20 calls Monday night and Tuesday morning, when temperatures in the Canadian capital dipped to an unseasonably low minus 40 Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit).
"Those were calls about breaking and entering, people making excessive noise and calls about gunshots," she said. Police responded to each alarm and rapidly realized crime was not responsible.
"Those calls were all (prompted by) the cold," she said, adding that one possible reason for the loud noises were exploding nails.