OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — The county opened its storm shelter Wednesday evening as an overnight warming shelter as freezing weather blankets the area.
The Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency announced on its Facebook page Wednesday that it would open the Community Safe Room at 985 Lynn Lane, across from McKee Park, as a warming center. That will remain in operation from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 8 a.m. Thursday and from 8 p.m. Thursday to noon Friday.
“They open it up for inclement weather whether that’s tornados or cold weather like we’re facing now. It’s centrally heated,” said Marvell Howard, president for the Oktibbeha board of supervisors. “… It can hold around 900 people, and normally we have things like hot coffee set up. But we do normally advise individuals to bring chairs or whatever you need, because we don’t supply beds or anything like that.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has declared a winter storm warning from midnight Thursday to noon Friday. It expects up to three inches of snow and the possibility of hazardous driving conditions, with lows plummeting to the teens and 20s. NOAA’s models predict lows below freezing through at least Jan 15.
Opening the shelter relies on volunteers to man it. Brandi Herrington, Starkville Strong’s executive director, told The Dispatch it had already found 10 to 12 potential volunteers by Wednesday afternoon.
“When there’s a crisis that affects the whole town, the community rallies immediately,” she said. “It’s just a matter of the informational gap, making people aware in as many ways as possible and getting the word out.”
Starkville Strong is a nonprofit that does charity work in the area and already has infrastructure in place to coordinate volunteers and collect donations.
Its donation bin outside Dunkington Art and Jewelry collects warm clothing in the winter months. Herrington said volunteers would bring surplus supplies to the overnight warming shelter for anyone in need.
“We collect coats, blankets, socks, toboggan hats, all the winterwear,” she said. “That bin is accessible 24/7, so we always have an abundance during this time. We’re going to take some of that abundance over to those who are at the shelter.”
The Dunkington donation bin is also a good place to drop off supplies outside of emergency conditions. Herrington said even when it’s not bad enough for the shelter to open, many people around the county still have trouble keeping their homes at a healthy temperature.
“We’re always taking things like hot hands and heaters to give to our clients that don’t have insulation,” she said. “A lot of the apartments around here are barely habitable, so keeping the temperature moderated is always tough. We’re always collecting the winterwear, Hothands and heaters.”
For more information on the shelter, call or text the Oktibbeha County Emergency Operations Center at (662) 320-7250.
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