Warming shelters open doors to Missourians Saturday

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ.)

Many warming shelters in Mid-Missouri are opening the doors Saturday as temperatures begin to drop below freezing.

Below is a list of some of the shelters around the area.

• RC (Activity and Recreation Center), 1701 W. Ash St.
• Boone County Government Center, 801 E. Walnut St.
• Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services, 1005 W. Worley St.
• Columbia Public Library, 100 W. Broadway
• Salvation Army, 1108 W. Ash St.

The City of Columbia opens warming shelters if temperatures are nine degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Overnight, temperatures in Columbia will hit just around those numbers and it can be dangerous for people to stay out in these kind of conditions.

Sara Humm with the Columbia and Boone County Health Department says the combination of cold, wind and rain can be very dangerous for peoples health which is one reason they offer warming centers.

Missouri's warming shelters don't just offer heat, but there are public areas that people can utilize while they wait.

"Folks would have access to any public areas such the lobby, uh restrooms, drinking fountains those types of things... and the point of warming centers is really to offer those folks the opportunity to get out of the cold," Humm said.

Humm also said they don't experience high occupancy at its warming shelter, so there is always enough space for anyone that needs to keep warm.

"We don't see a lot of people who hang out for long periods of times, but we certainly have space in our lobby, we have chairs set up so that if people need to get out of the cold they can certainly do that during normal business hours," Humm said.

Typically, warming shelters in the city will stay open between the hours of 7 PM and 7 AM.

The Wabash Bus Station, on Saturday will be temporarily open until 9:30 AM on Sunday.