OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – From electric companies to city shelters, there’s much work underway right now to keep Oklahomans warm through this winter weather.
When the winter storm picked up, so did things at The Homeless Allliance, where people are seeking any kind of relief they can get.
“We had several spend the night with us last night,” said Homeless Alliance Executive Director Dan Straughan. “It’s pretty crowded over there today. There were 240 folks there when I came in this morning.”
Straughan says The Homeless Alliance as well as all the city’s main shelters prepare to go into overflow and overtime when it’s this cold.
“If you’re living in a tent or sleeping under a bridge, it could be life threatening,” Straughan said.
Throughout the state, crews from OG&E are ready to be dispatched, should the power go out.
Hundreds of restoration crews were moved into place over the weekend, before the wintry mix hit the streets.
“As of right now, ice accumulation does appear to be very low,” said OG&E Spokesperson Christi Woodworth. “There doesn’t appear to be a high risk of high winds so we feel really good about where we are in terms of preparedness.”
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Woodworth says the biggest threat to the power, right now, is slick roads.
“So if a power pole is hit by a car, that can be several hours of a construction job, repairing or replacing the pole or anything that’s attached to it,” Woodworth said. “So there’s a public safety concern for the driver and the people around them and also it could impact thousands of people and their electric service if that accident were to hit a power pole.”
OG&E customers can watch and report outages by downloading OG&E’s mobile app, signing up for alerts or Calling 405-272-9595 (OKC) or 800-522-6870 (all other areas) to report outages. You can find a full list of warming stations in OG&E’s coverage area here.