Cold snap: 3 people transported to hospital by EMS, nearly 400 utilize overnight shelters
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin-Travis County EMS says it ran at least five cold-related illness incident calls Tuesday overnight into Wednesday as temperatures plummeted well below freezing. Of those patients, three were transported to area hospitals, EMS said.
“Any time you add an additional weather element, you’re complicating the situation, right? So even if it was dry and cold, now it’s going to be dry and windy and cold, and maybe it’s going to be wet and cold. So every complicating factor you add just increases the risk,” Captain Christa Stedman with ATCEMS told KXAN Tuesday.
According to Austin’s Homeless Strategy Office (HSO), 386 individuals utilized the city’s overnight cold weather shelters. An additional four families sought shelter and were given a voucher to stay at area hotels.
As of right now, the city is not keeping those overnight cold weather shelters open 24/7. All city of Austin warming facilities — including libraries — are open for people to escape the cold Wednesday during daylight hours.
People seeking shelter Wednesday night are asked to once again meet at the One Texas Center at 505 Barton Springs Road between 6-8 p.m. You can find details on how to get to an overnight cold weather shelter here.
The city of Austin’s Homeless Strategy Office (HSO) used its text alert system to push out information about the overnight cold weather shelters and inform people about the danger of frostbite and hypothermia.
Signs of frostbite may include:
- Initially, one may experience redness or pain of skin
- Other signs include a white or grayish-yellow skin that feels “unusually firm or waxy”
- Numbness
Signs of hypothermia include:
- Exhaustion
- Confusion, memory loss or slurred speech
- Drowsiness
The city said hypothermia happens “at very cold temperatures, but can occur at cool temperatures (40°F) if a person is wet (from rain, sweat or cold water) and becomes chilled.” You can find more information about hypothermia here.
