Extremely cold temperatures and wind chills are in the forecast for Lawrence, and the city is planning to reopen an overflow emergency shelter to ensure everyone will have a warm place to sleep.
The Lawrence Community Shelter, 3655 E. 25th St., is the primary place for people to seek shelter during extreme weather. If LCS hits capacity — around 140 people — the city is opening overflow shelters at local churches to ensure that everyone has a warm place to sleep.
First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St., is the first overflow shelter location to open. The city announced Thursday that the overflow shelter was closing because of a decrease in attendance after the ice storm, blizzard and extreme wind chills in the days prior had somewhat subsided.
FUMC will reopen at 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12 for anyone who needs a place to stay. The closure date will be assessed on an ongoing basis, according to an email from Misty Bosch Hastings, director of the city’s homeless solutions division.
Volunteers ages 18 and up can sign up for a four-hour shift and learn more about what duties volunteering entails at this link.
The low temperature in the forecast for Sunday night into Monday is 3°, and Monday could have wind chills between -4° and 6°, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka.
For questions about volunteering, Bosch-Hastings can be reached at mhastings@lawrenceks.org or by text or call to 785-760-1481.
“This is a crucial opportunity to provide immediate support to our community members, many of whom are navigating difficult challenges. Volunteers will have full support from the City of Lawrence,” Bosch-Hastings wrote.
People can also call or text 785-760-1481 to confirm whether an overflow shelter is open and seek help. The winter shelter helpline can also be reached via email at wintershelter@lawrenceks.org.
The city has had a job opening posted for a paid Homeless Response Team member since October.
See more severe weather info and links to resources below. See this page for more weather coverage.
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Severe weather resources
Get warm in Lawrence:
• See this page for locations to get warm during the day and overnight, where to get help for pets and more.
National Weather Service local office (Topeka):
• Find the latest weather forecast info and severe weather advisories for the Lawrence area at this link.
• In the event of rapidly changing severe weather, such as tornadoes, the NWS posts frequent updates on Twitter, @NWSTopeka. You do not need a Twitter account to see tweets from NWS.
• NWS is also on Facebook, facebook.com/NWSTopeka.
• Call 785-234-2592 to hear the forecast.
City of Lawrence snow info:
• The city has snow information and a map at lawrenceks.org/snow that shows information about road conditions and where snowplows have been. The city typically begins snow and ice control for residential roadways when 2 or more inches of snowfall or icing occurs.
Douglas County Emergency Management:
• Follow @DgCoEM on Twitter or Douglas County, KS- Emergency Management on Facebook, facebook.com/dgcoem.
• Sign up to receive emergency alerts at dgcoks.org/emalerts.
• Find lots of tips on severe weather and other emergency preparedness on DgCoEM’s website at douglascountyks.org/emergency-management.
• Report storm damage (for non-emergencies only, and after storm danger has passed) by calling the nonemergency dispatch line at 785-843-0250 or 785-832-7509.
Evergy outages:
• Check the status of power outages on the Evergy outage map, outagemap.evergy.com.
• Report a power outage at evergy.com/report-outage, or call 800-544-4857.
• For down powerlines, call Evergy’s emergency line, 800-383-1183, if above-ground lines are arcing or making contact with trees or vegetation. Call 911 immediately if overhead power lines are on the ground or a fire starts. Do not go near the line.
Highway conditions beyond Lawrence:
• KanDrive, an app and website from the Kansas Department of Transportation, has info on highway conditions statewide. KanDrive is available online at KanDrive.gov, and its app is available for download free on the App Store and Google Play.
Air quality:
• Check the current air quality index in Lawrence and elsewhere through AirNow, airnow.gov.
Latest Lawrence news:
