The Christmas storm last month claimed the lives of an elderly couple from Thamesville.
CK News Today has learned that the couple was found just outside of their home on December 24, 2022 during the storm.
Chatham-Kent police have confirmed the deaths of an elderly couple in Thamesville due to the storm, but don't know why they were outside during such nasty weather.
"They were found outside their home. Not trapped in a vehicle or anything. We can only speculate to what occurred for both of them to be outside in the weather," police said.
Police said they are not releasing any more information, including the names of the two people who died, out of respect for the family's privacy.
Officers noted there were two other deaths during that time period, but they are not being linked to the storm or the ensuing power outage.
The storm caused hundreds of vehicles to be abandoned on local roads and Highway 401 and forced hundreds of people into local warming centres and gracious homes across Chatham-Kent, which opened their doors to shelter people.
Chief Administrative Officer Michael Duben said it was his first emergency in Chatham-Kent and he was impressed with the way it was handled so well, adding people mobilized quickly and the different local agencies were in constant communication.
Mayor Darrin Canniff and Duben are also praising the community for the way they banded together to help each other and strangers from out of town.
"I received several notes from people living outside of Chatham-Kent saying thank you to all of the people who opened their homes and the emergency workers coming and helping them," Canniff said.
Chatham-Kent Fire and Rescue Chief Chris Case told CK News Today that his firefighters, paramedics, or the Municipality are not aware of anyone losing their life stranded in a car or on a public road.
Ryan Brown expects the storm cleanup to be in the $2-3 million range, but said bills are still coming in and anticipates a report going to council by late February or early March. Brown added that cleanup for a normal winter storm is between $750,000 and $1 million.
Mayor Canniff said the annual budget for winter snow removal is between $5 million and $6 million.
Duben said an emergency was declared by the Municipality because some ambulances got stuck and couldn't respond to some emergency calls and it was unclear if provincial snow plows were available to clear municipal roads because they were busy clearing Highway 401 after it was closed in both directions from Chatham to London because of abandoned vehicles and snow conditions.
He noted the Municipality must have discussions at some point about buying larger equipment in the future to deal with these larger snow storms and keep the public safe.