Dallas opening overflow shelters for the homeless on another night of subfreezing temps

DALLAS – The city of Dallas is opening overflow shelters as North Texans brace for a second night of subfreezing temperatures and dangerous wind chills.

The J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in Downtown Dallas will house those experiencing homelessness Friday night. Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

While there wasn’t much of the wintry precipitation, the cold temperatures were enough to push more than expected out of the streets and into the shelters

So the city of Dallas is making plans to expand shelter sleeping space, starting with the Central Library.

“We also saw a lot more precipitation than we anticipated,” said Christine Crossley, with the Dallas Office of Homeless Solutions. “Because of that, we have had an unprecedented number of people coming in for shelter on the first night.”

RELATED: North Texas arctic blast timeline

Thursday night, a total of 477 people in Dallas found shelter to get out of the cold.

There were 376 people sheltered at Austin Street, while 66 others stayed at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church and 35 more found warmth at Warren Avenue UMC.

Because of the big numbers seeking shelter and temperatures set to stay below freezing into the weekend, Dallas is opening the Central Library as an overnight space for 250 occupants Friday night, before moving to a larger area Saturday.

“We anticipate moving to Fair Park collectively, and that will be over 1,000, in terms of space we can utilize,” Crossley added.

Matching the unprecedented need has been the unbelievable response from people who are volunteering to serve and giving great donations for those who have little or nothing.

“We are just really, really moved by all of the support that we have seen and the support of our partners,” Crossley said. “And things are going really well right now.”

RELATED: Fort Worth man dies, 22 others hospitalized as arctic blast hits North Texas

In Fort Worth, the homeless population is being housed at the Presbyterian Night Shelter.

The men and family shelters were at capacity Thursday night, with an overflow of 30 men at Union Gospel Mission, and two churches hosted 19 others.

Fort Worth City Manager’s Office said the city had no significant problems over the cold night, and reports no water main breaks as of this time.

Dallas reports 19 burst pipes and 42 meter leaks, with 124 calls for lack of animal care. Three dogs were impounded.

“If you see an animal that’s left outdoors during freezing temperatures for a significant period of time, please call 311 or file a report on animal lack of care through our Dallas app,” said Paul Ramon, with Dallas Animal Services.

RELATED: Dallas Animal Services has responded to dozens of calls for animals left in the cold

The state’s power grid has been good so far, but sporadic outages have been reported across North Texas.

Crews are working to get energy back one neighborhood at a time.

FOX 4 has gotten some calls and emails from people who have lost gas, and some cities, including Grand Prairie, are reporting there was low gas pressure in the lines.

RELATED: Parts of Grand Prairie experiencing natural gas shortage

Companies are working to get that back.

The widespread outages from the winter storm in 2021 are not present as of right now.