Hundreds seek shelter in Fort Worth to keep warm during mass power outages
Frigid temperatures and mass power outages forced hundreds of people in Fort Worth to find alternative shelter this week or else risk hypothermia during the ongoing winter storm.
About 170 people slept on cots inside Fort Worth’s Convention Center on Tuesday night to escape the below freezing temperatures. On Wednesday, more than a hundred people drank coffee, slept or sat with their belongings inside the main wing of the center. Those who qualified were taken to an adjoining room to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Volunteers served Steak ‘n Shake box lunches and pizza.
“I can’t think of a time when it was this bitterly cold for this length of time,” said Brandon Bennett, the director of Fort Worth Code Compliance. “The bitter cold and the rolling power outages have just taken everybody by surprise.”
About 120 of the people who stayed at the center Tuesday night did not have homes and were taking shelter from dangerously low temperatures. With a shortage of staff because of the dangerous driving conditions, some people staying at the center helped check people in. For COVID-19 safety, people had their temperature taken at the door and wore masks inside the center.
Michael Wheatley, who is currently homeless, brought extra blankets to people throughout Tuesday night and took people’s temperatures. The 59-year-old has lived in Fort Worth for most of his life, and said he was grateful to Bennett and other city employees for opening the center.
On the side of the Convention Center’s main auditorium, Wheatley let his two dogs out of their crates one at a time on leashes. Wilow, a yellow lab, and Rocky, a rottweiler, sat on his command despite their excitement to be out of the crate. But one of his pets was missing. Wheatley wiped away tears as he explained his third dog had died overnight in the cold before he was able to get them inside the shelter.
When Wheatley mentioned his third dog, Bennett also got emotional.
“He lost his best friend,” he said.
‘It’s not a rolling blackout.’
About 50 people who stayed at the center Tuesday night live in apartments or houses that lost power and were too cold for them to stay at. Some people had been without power for 30 hours.
“It’s not a rolling blackout,” Bennett said. “Most of the people here, the power went out and just hasn’t come on yet.”
Kenneth Wright, 74, is one of those people. After his power went out on Monday, his home in White Settlement got so cold that icicles clung to his faucets and his toilet water froze solid. He tried to find a hotel, but could not find a room within a 100-mile radius that he could stay in. With all his relatives living out-of-town, his only option was the warming center.
“It was freezing,” he said. “The power came on for one hour then went off again and I said, I’m out of here.”
Like many people, he has not heard anything from his electric company about when his power should be back on.
Buses took some people home on Wednesday when they got word that their electricity had returned. But half the people on the bus came back to the center when they arrived at their residences and saw the power was out again.
The center will stay open until at least Thursday at noon, and possibly into Friday if people still need it, Bennett said. The high on Friday is expected to reach 41, with a low of 23.
CJ Campbell, 56, is not sure what he will do when the Convention Center closes as an overnight shelter. He had been living near Magnolia Avenue with a shopping cart full of supplies, but four or five days ago, he fell and hit his head on a curb. Someone took him to a hospital and while he got the help he needed, he also lost all of his belongings. His DVD player, bifocal glasses, wallet and his radio that he uses to listen to the weather on KRLD — they are all gone.
He misses his leather hat, his usual adornment that people recognized him for on Magnolia, he said.
“I miss the hat my stepson gave me 11 years ago,” he said. “And the familiar faces, the people that know me.”
An officer drove Campbell to the Convention Center on Monday, and he likes the center more than most shelters he has stayed in. While he had not made any friends yet and there was not much to do, everyone was pleasant. However, he is worried that lingering ice and snow will make it dangerous for him to walk on the sidewalk. A neon yellow bracelet on his arm identified him as a fall risk due to a previously broken hip.
“I just keep on surviving and scavenging whatever I do, and hope for the best,” he said. “I got no family to ask for help.”
Available shelters
The Convention Center is open 24/7 to those who need shelter and a place to sleep in Fort Worth. COVID-19 screenings and protocols are in place.
City-owned convention center parking garages and on-street metered parking are available at no charge. Garages are available on Commerce and Houston Streets.
Other places in Fort Worth are available as warming stations:
Warming stations at the following locations will operate from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday:
- Worth Heights Community Center, 3551 New York Ave, Fort Worth, TX 76110. Phone 817-392-8722.
- Handley Meadowbrook Community Center, 6201 Beaty St, Fort Worth, TX 76112. Phone 817-392-2830.
- Diamond Hill Community Center, 1701 NE 36th St, Fort Worth, TX 76106. Phone 817-392-5485.
- North Tri-Ethnic Community Center, 2950 Roosevelt Ave, Fort Worth, TX 76106. Phone 817-392-5200
Summerglen Library, 4205 Basswood Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76137. Phone 817-392-5970
Southwest Community Center, 6300 Welch Ave, Fort Worth, TX 76133
For a list of other organizations and businesses offering warming stations, visit fortworthtexas.gov/closures
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 5:34 PM.
