600 Emergency Shelter Beds Opening in St. Louis for Severe Cold This Weekend, Street Department Prepares for Snow

In anticipation of severe winter weather hitting St. Louis this weekend, the City of St. Louis Department of Human Services will move to the highest Code Blue activation level on Friday, bringing a record number of emergency shelter beds online. The Street Department has begun pretreating snow routes and is ready to deploy snowplows once snow accumulates on the roads.

With expected temperatures near 0°F, the City of St. Louis Code Blue is moving to activation level 4, the highest activation level, triggered by temperatures at 10°F or below.

At Code Blue level 4, the City and its partners add 600 emergency shelter beds to the baseline of 400, bringing the total to 1,000 shelter beds in St. Louis between Friday night and Monday morning.

Shelters will be open around the clock from Thursday night to Monday morning to ensure that those staying overnight also have a warm place to stay during the daytime.

“This is going to be a very cold weekend in St. Louis, and I encourage everyone who needs a warm place to stay to take advantage of the shelters that the City and our great partners are making available,” said Mayor Cara Spencer. “I am very proud of the work our City departments and partners have done so far this winter and are doing now to prepare for this severe weather.”

Temperatures Thursday night are expected to remain in the teens, meaning the City will be in Code Blue activation level 3 with 450 emergency beds added to the baseline.

Transportation to shelter from rally points around the City is available at both level 3 and level 4.

Shelter

Thursday through Sunday, walk-up shelter is available at these locations.

Walk-ups are welcome from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. After 9 p.m., individuals seeking shelter must contact the United Way 211 Helpline by dialing 211.

Additional locations, including space for families and those with pets, are available by appointment coordinated through the United Way 211 Helpline or by speaking with a coordinator at a rally point. If a walk-up shelter reaches capacity, transportation will be provided to another shelter with sufficient capacity.

Rally Points

Those seeking transportation to shelters can get picked up between 5 and 7 p.m. at these rally point locations.

Each rally point has either a warming bus or an indoor warming facility available, in addition to a Metro Call-A-Ride shuttle that transports individuals to shelter. Each shuttle is staffed with both a driver and an outreach worker.

If alternative transportation is required, contact the United Way 211 Helpline by dialing 211

Snow Plan Operations Update

With snow expected to hit St. Louis Friday or Saturday, the Street Department has been pretreating snow routes since Wednesday morning to ensure the best possible conditions on the roads. The department had deployed 30,000 gallons of brine by Thursday morning and is ready to activate its fleet of snowplows once snow accumulates.

The snow fleet consists of 48 dump trucks with snow and salt capacity, four 1-ton trucks with snow and salt capacity, and three brine trucks, operated by a team of 90 crew members working in shifts. The department’s efforts can be augmented, if needed, by 13 trucks with plow and salt capacity and two utility tractors with plow and salt capacity from the Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry.

In anticipation of significant snowfall, the Street Department is preparing for the possibility of engaging emergency contractors to assist the City’s efforts as needed. Additionally, the 16 neighborhood improvements specialists with the Neighborhood Stabilization Division will be performing quality control from the streets and delivering feedback to the Street Department on where further efforts may be necessary.

In accordance with the Street Department’s Winter Weather Preparedness Plan, streets will be prioritized as follows:

1. Main Routes: Arterial, secondary and hill routes are cleared first to keep traffic moving.
2. School Entrances and Intersections: Crews then clear snow from main school entrances and intersections where side streets meet main roads.
3. Intersection Clearance: Next, crews clear accumulated snow (windrows) at intersections where side streets meet the main snow routes.
4. Side Streets: After intersections are clear, the Street Department director will determine what additional support shall be provided to the remaining side streets.

If significant ice develops, all available vehicles and staff from other departments will be used to break up the ice.

The operations will be as follows, based on actual conditions:

• Normal Snowfall (under 1 inch per hour): Crews work in continuous loops, clearing arterial and secondary routes.
• Severe Snowfall (over 1 inch per hour): Arterial routes are the top priority until conditions improve.

The City of St. Louis and its partners are closely monitoring the weather conditions and will continue to provide updates on emergency shelter and efforts to keep streets passable, as needed.