READING, Pa. – This is what extreme cold looked like in Reading Wednesday night.
Snow plows were out overnight, clearing major roads across the city so emergency vehicles can get through safely.
Mayor Eddie Morán says the city has moved into the snow removal phase.
“We started a snow removal process. We went from phase one of plowing and salting, to yesterday morning, starting to remove snow out of the streets and dumping it in a safe area,” Morán said.
The mayor says crews will be working 24 hours a day for the next several days.
To help speed up the process, city-owned parking garages are free through Monday, Feb. 2, allowing residents to move their cars off the streets so crews can clear snow more efficiently.
But while crews work outside, space is running out inside local shelters.
At Opportunity House, every bed is full.
“Our capacity is around 90, so we are actually over capacity in our shelter,” said Frank Grill, shelter director at Opportunity House.
As of Wednesday night, 104 people were staying in the shelter. Another 62 people were using the City of Reading’s Code Blue emergency housing.
Because of the extreme cold, shelter officials say they are taking extra steps to keep people safe.
“With this inclement weather and the frigid cold, what we have done is we’ve called upon our staff and our Code Blue staff, so both Shelter and Code Blue are working together to allow folks to stay inside also during the day,” Grill said.
Shelters like Opportunity House and Hope Rescue Mission are urging anyone without heat or a safe place to stay to come inside as the extreme cold continues. They can be reached at:
430 N. 2nd Street, Reading
Phone: 610-374-4696
645 N. 6th Street, Reading
Phone: (610) 374-4673