PORTLAND, Ore. — Emergency warming shelters across the Portland metro area have become life-saving for homeless people over the past week as the city has endured days of bitterly cold temperatures bookended by two winter storms.
"I've been here since yesterday, enjoying the warmth and the food," said Robert, who is homeless but has been staying at a warming shelter in North Portland.
He said it's the second one he's been to this week, but each time he goes inside, he's taking a chance.
"You don't know if you're going to get ripped off here while you're sleeping, if you have a camp somewhere when you go back if you still have a camp," he explained.
This week, Robert said he had no other choice, because exposure to the weather has been causing frostbite in his hands.
"This one is pretty much dead," he said, indicating part of one of his hands. "When it goes numb and it gets hard, the tissue's dead. I'm not happy about it, but I'm an old dog, and I've been through worse."
On Tuesday, Multnomah County extended its severe weather state of emergency through noon Wednesday and said it would keep its dozen warming shelters open through the night.
"This is a pretty unrelenting break of really, really dangerous cold," said Denis Theriault, Multnomah County deputy communications director.
The warming shelters helped nearly 1,200 people on Monday night, a record high.
"We still very much need volunteers," Theriault said. "It's always a busy time when folks are getting out; we're giving them clothes and sleeping bags things they can use to be warm."
Saturday's storm also shut off power at two of Portland's Safe Rest Villages for homeless people, including the one where Jeff McAllister stays in Multnomah Village.
"It was 23 degrees in my pod right before the power went down," he said.
The city moved him to a motel room off of Sandy Boulevard while crews work to restore the site. But McAllister said until city workers abruptly showed up to move the residents, it wasn't clear when or if they were going to be moved.
"They just swooped out of nowhere and said, 'All right, everybody's got to go,'" he said.
Even as hundreds continue to seek shelter, the county is already planning to close the warming centers on Wednesday morning when temperatures are expected to rise above freezing.
"It's lovely and wonderful and a blessing that so many organizations have given us spaces so we can provide this, but we then have to turn them back over," Theriault said.
That doesn't sit well with Robert, who said people are still counting on having a place to go.
"It could be a life-or-death situation," he said.