FRIGID TEMPS TAKING TOLL ON HOMELESS
Two men are found dead near camps in downtown area
Two men huddled near homeless encampments on the edge of downtown Houston were found dead Tuesday in the near-record cold temperatures that have buffeted Southeast Texas.
One man was found about 7 a.m. Tuesday in the 300 block of Hamilton near Minute Maid Park, not far from the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen. The other man was found about 9:15 a.m. in the 100 block of Richmond near a homeless camp.
Police Chief Art Acevedo said in a tweet that both deaths are “believed to be the result of exposure to frigid weather.”
The loss of life prompted renewed calls from Mayor Sylvester Turner for the homeless to seek shelter before the temperatures dropped again into the mid-20s overnight.
Large shelters suspended some rules to allow the homeless to get indoors, and a temporary warming center was set up by the American Red Cross at South Main Baptist Church’s recreation center at 200 Colquitt. Free rides were offered by MetroLift to shelters or other facilities, the mayor said.
Acevedo said the police department’s homeless outreach team would be working throughout the area.
“Hoping no more lives are lost,” he tweeted.
With temperatures hovering about 30 degrees by midmorning
Tuesday and just a hint of sleet, John Verrett wheeled his blue bicycle up to a Star of Hope van, hoping to get something warm.
“I’m ready for this cold to go away,” he said, accepting a fleece blanket from the shelter’s “Love in Action” minivan, which stopped briefly outside the Loaves and Fishes at 2009 Congress.
The damp cold, which by 9 p.m. included a mix of light sleet and snow, made teeth chatter and fingers go numb. Finding shelter from the frigid weather — which forecasters say will start warming on Wednesday — left many of the homeless sheltered in tents and building fires in barbecue grills to try to deal with the chill.
Verrett said he and a friend spent Monday night on a downtown sidewalk, wrapped in a handful of blankets that weren’t sufficient to keep out the cold wind.
“Last night I nearly froze to death, literally,” he said, wearing thin gloves and a light jacket. “I don’t know what I’m going to do tonight.”
Star of Hope’s outreach case manager, Kenneth Eakins, handed out dozens of lightweight fleece throws to men and women under the Interstate 69 bridge just east of Minute Maid Park. The downtown men’s shelter is at capacity, but during this week’s extreme weather it will open its doors — and lay out a mat on the floor — for any man who needs a warm place to stay.
Across the area Tuesday, people spotted sleet pellets and snow flurries on their morning commutes, and Houston TranStar reported ice on a few roadways in the southern parts of the area. But the daytime precipitation amounted to “nothing really measurable,” said Sean Luchs, a forecaster for the National Weather Service, and the cold should loosen its grip as the week goes on.
A hard freeze warning was set to continue through Wednesday morning — in fact, Luchs predicted that due to clearing skies, overnight Tuesday “might be the coldest night we’ve seen this week.” But starting Wednesday, he said, the Houston area will begin to see a slow warming trend: sun and a high of 44 degrees in Houston on Wednesday, then a high of 48 Thursday.
“We’ll just kind of slowly work our way up through the end of the week,” Luchs said. Only areas north of Houston — such as Huntsville or Conroe — should see a hard freeze after Tuesday night.
The cold weather in Houston is not nearly as bad as the sub-zero temperatures in New England and the Midwest, Luchs said, but it’s still necessary to stay covered.
“If you’re not able to protect yourself, with enough exposure hypothermia is certainly a threat,” he said.
At the encampment near Minute Maid Park, most people stayed sheltered inside their tents, which sprawl beneath the bridge near Commerce Street. But Tonya Sampson sat next to a pile of burning wood inside a small rusted barbecue grill. The fire created more smoke and ash than heat, but she said it helped.
Since the weather turned cold, donors have dropped by the camp with firewood and Duraflame logs, Sampson said.
“A guy brought a whole SUV full of it and distributed it to everybody who’s got a fire,” she said.
From the back of his “Love in Action” van, Eakins handed out fleece blankets until he ran out.
“You want a blanket, sir?” he said over and over, reaching for a red one, a gray one, a blue one with a snowman print. “Yeah. Absolutely. Here you go.”
Star of Hope distributes supplies as donations allow, said Scott Arthur, a spokesman for the organization.
“We can’t get enough blankets and coats,” he said, especially in a weather week like this one.
Verrett didn’t plan to go to a shelter Tuesday night, but he hadn’t come up with a better idea. He just knew he didn’t want a repeat of Monday night, freezing under blankets on the street.
“It was so cold,” he said. “We’re not used to being this cold.”