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When Multnomah County opened the Oregon Convention Center as an emergency severe weather shelter last night, it expected 150 people to show up.
By morning, with the wind chill in downtown Portland around 2 degrees, nearly twice that many people had arrived. Chris Voss, director of the Multnomah County Office of Emergency Management, hovered near the check-in tables. He said 280 people had signed in overnight. “We went over capacity,” he said.
No one was turned away. His team put down more bedding and opened an additional room. Lines of cots filled the cavernous space.
A few people walked in the doors without shoes, organizers said. “It’s hell out there,” said Josh Martin, 45, who was eating oatmeal and hot cocoa handed out by volunteers. He said it was tough to get into shelters, and wished the county didn’t wait for conditions to turn deadly before it opened additional space.
City and county employees had signed up to work in shifts. In a corner of the massive auditorium, a few were handing out supplies. Vaseline and lip balm were in high demand.
William Hars, 60, had been staying at the Portland Rescue Mission after being evicted from his Milwaukie apartment for a “loud night,” he said. He was thankful for the shelter openings. It was “good news,” he said.
The city and county declared a state of emergency Tuesday. County Chair Deborah Kafoury warned that the next few days could be “some of the coldest and most dangerous days we’ve experienced, for many years.” The county opened four severe weather shelters last night, as it generally does when temperatures drop below 25 degrees. A fifth, at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, opens today.
County officials said 394 people stayed at an emergency shelter Wednesday night and Thursday morning. They could not immediately calculate what percentage of capacity was used.
It’s expected to drop below freezing again tonight, with “dangerously cold wind chills,” according to the National Weather Service. To make matters worse, freezing rain is expected to begin in the evening, and last through much of Friday.
Anthony Effinger contributed reporting to this story.
