Austin shelters homeless amid freeze
As many Austinites brace for cold weather, the city, too, has action plans that kick into gear when temperatures dip below freezing, which happened overnight with a freeze warning in effect for much of Central Texas until 9 a.m. Wednesday.
At press time Tuesday, the National Weather Service had expected temperatures to sink to 29 degrees before dawn Wednesday. Because that's well below freezing, the city's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management implemented its cold weather shelter plan by opening at least two more facilities, in addition to the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless downtown, to take in people off the streets.
Office of Emergency Management spokesman Angel Flores said the plan is activated anytime the city expects it to hit 32 degrees in dry weather or 35 degrees when it's wet outside.
The OEM has a list of churches and recreation centers that can be used as shelters, as well as the ARCH, which is always open. Flores said on Tuesday that the city was planning to open an extra shelter for men and another for women, with each able to accommodate 25 people. Anyone hoping to stay at one of the shelters had to enter a lottery because space is limited, Front Steps spokeswoman Kay Klotz said.
The remaining people would stay at the ARCH, which can fit 190 people, or a nearby rec center, which can fit more than 200, she said. The city does not release the names of the cold weather shelters to avoid overcrowding. Instead, everyone is bused to the different locations from the ARCH to make sure people are housed in an orderly and efficient way.
"It is a well-oiled machine," Klotz said. "Everyone working together to bring our neighbors inside."
Flores said the OEM stays in constant communication with the ARCH to find out if the city needs to open more shelters. Animals brought into shelters also are accommodated, he said.
"We don't turn anyone away," Klotz said.
The Austin Animal Center also brings its dogs in from outside when it's cold, spokesman Jennifer Olohan said. That happened days ago, when temperatures dipped into the 40s, she said.
"One of the issues we are having right now is that, with so many animals, particularly dogs, we are running out of places to keep them," Olohan said. "We were keeping some of the dogs in kennels outside, and we can't keep them there anymore."
She said Tuesday the shelter was overcrowded and encouraged people to adopt or foster pets, especially because the shelter takes in more animals during periods of extreme weather.
"People are more likely to pick up a dog they see on the side of the road when it's storming or 30 degrees outside," she said.
Austin-Travis County EMS medics on Tuesday said it hadn't seen more calls related to the cold weather— just a single report of environmental exposure shortly before 8 a.m. Monday, when temperatures were slightly above freezing. EMS Capt. Darren Noak said medics were prepared for the possibility of more calls as temperatures were expected to dip lower Tuesday night. However, he said, most of the increase in calls around winter have more to do with icy roads, which could lead to more crashes.
"If it's just going to be cold and precipitation, it's nothing really," he said.
School districts also said they don't typically cancel classes for freezing weather. Those decisions are based largely on road conditions— whether if it's icy and unsafe for school buses, school district officials said. However, the district said it considers several factors after talking with the weather service and office of emergency management. Decisions to delay or cancel classes happen at 3 a.m., and that information is disseminated to the media and parents through email and text message notifications.
At press time Tuesday, classes were scheduled to operate as normal on Wednesday.
The forecast for overnight Wednesday calls for near-freezing temperatures as low as 34 degrees under clear skies. That's still about 20 degrees below the normal low for this time of year.
That should change by Saturday, when it'll be almost 70 degrees again, the weather service said.