Residents in the small Canadian town of Stonewall, Manitoba, found out on Thursday morning after natural gas stopped flowing to the town's more than 1,500 homes and business overnight, leaving them without heat as the wind chill hit a bone-numbing -52 C.

"I think it's going to be more than a three-dog night tonight," Ross Thompson, mayor of Stonewall, told CBC Radio.

Emergency officials quickly moved patients from the town's small hospital to heated hospitals in nearby towns, and were helping people find ways to stay warm, he said.

"Nobody's really panicking," Thompson said.

Natural gas supplier Manitoba Hydro said it didn't know the reason for the gas disruption but expected to start relighting furnace pilot lights on Thursday afternoon.

It advised residents to use electric heaters, wood fireplaces and even electric ovens to stay warm and keep their water pipes from freezing.