By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
NEWPORT – It was all hands on deck at the Newport Recreation Center on Sunday after powerful winds out of the east Saturday felled trees that knocked out power lines as temperatures dipped below freezing.
The center’s Sonia Graham helped coordinate a collaborative emergency response of Lincoln County and Newport officials, recreation center staff and volunteers. The center’s two gymnasiums were quickly transformed Sunday morning into a warming shelter with plenty of cots and blankets.
Initially, it was thought that as many as 100 residents and staff from Oceanview Senior Living in north Newport would be staying. That proved not to be the case as family picked up some residents, others in need of oxygen were taken to Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital and the remainder were shuttled to a Lincoln City motel.
Everything went well logistically, Graham said Monday.
“We probably only had about 13 people stay the night last night,” she said. “But this morning, we’ve had a lot of people come in. We’ve had probably a good 40 people coming in to get warmed up, get something warm to drink, something warm to eat and to take a shower.”
While a few people who live on the street did stay the night at the center, most were people whose homes were without power, Graham said. Many of the area’s homeless stayed at the county’s winter shelter on West Seventh Street.
The city of Newport declared an emergency after suffering the brunt of an ice storm that was not predicted to strike so far south along the coast. The storm cut a wide-swath, flocking trees with ice from Moolack Beach north of Newport to 98th Street south of the city, while leaving areas that included Beverly Beach, Depoe Bay, Waldport and Yachats with icy patches confined to the ground.
Hot Cup-of-Soup and beverages along with doughnuts and other snacks were available at the recreation center, much of it donated by Grocery Outlet. Domino’s arrived with pizzas for lunch Monday.
The center will stay open as long as the power is out or as long as needed, Graham said. The city closed the shelter at 6 p.m. Tuesday after another outage was restored and directed people to the county’s winter shelter for the homeless on West Seventh Street.
Pets were also welcome. “We have a few cages if people need ‘em,” she said. “But most people are allowed to just have their pet on their beds.”
Nikki Day lives in north Newport where power was just beginning to be restored Monday afternoon. She stayed in the shelter Sunday night.
“Without power it was extremely cold in my house and I just couldn’t stand staying there another day,” Day said. “They have lots of food here. And I appreciate that I had the option to come here rather than stay home and freeze.”
Sky Darwin spent Sunday night at the county’s winter shelter but came to the recreation center Monday morning to keep warm.
“They told me that this would be available during the day because otherwise we would go down to the gazebo and Don Davis Park, or up to the library when it’s open.”
He plans to go back to the warming shelter to sleep because that is where his few possessions are. Darwin grew up in Newport and moved back a couple of years ago. He found himself homeless after his summer business repairing tools and small engines went bust in the winter.
“Me and a couple other people are going to start advocating more for the homeless community and just tell people where everything is at because we run into some folks on the street who just have no idea how to access all of the resources that are available to them,” Darwin said.
Nancy Hanrahan of Depoe Bay arrived at the center Monday morning so she could have electricity for her laptop. She works as a financial manager. While her house has a propane stove, it had been without power since Saturday afternoon. She was unaware of anywhere to go in Depoe Bay.
“They are very nice and very accommodating here,” Hanrahan said. “It’s hard to concentrate with everything that’s going on but that’s the only bad thing.”
Graham reiterated that people should use the center if they need to get warmed up.
“You don’t have to stay the night and a lot of people have been coming to just take a warm shower, but bring your own towel because the center is still trying to round some up,” she said.
To make it more “cozy,” Graham said, people are also encouraged to bring their own blankets and pillows.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
That’s very kind of the community to çome together so quickly in such harsh weather conditions I do appreciate it as I’m. Sure others do