As the state digs out from as much as 16 inches of snow that fell in Thursday's nor'easter, shelters are mobilizing to take in hundreds during the dangerous cold and gusty winds blowing in this weekend.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — With temperatures set to plummet into the single digits on Friday night and high winds expected to make it feel even colder, emergency shelters and warming centers around Rhode Island spent the day digging out from Thursday’s nor’easter and making preparations for anyone needing to get out of the frigid weather.
A relatively small number of homes experienced outages during the storm that dumped as much as 16 inches of snow on parts of the state, but with strong wind gusts forecast in its wake, facilities were still planning for the possibility of more people losing power and heat.
At the Providence Career and Technical Academy, workers on Friday morning were ready to set up 150 cots in the cavernous field house if they got word from the state Emergency Management Agency.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s one in the morning or two in the morning, if we get the call, we’ll be here,” said Claude Johnson, a member of the staff that maintains the 65,000-square-foot facility.
And the Cranston Senior Center was prepared for the worst with enough beds for 225 people and stockpiles of food.
“We have enough food for three or four days,” said executive director Jeffrey P. Barone. “We’ll feed them.”
He was in touch with the city’s Fire Department during the storm and said the center would respond if needed on Friday or over the weekend.
“We’ve got everything we need here for them,” he said.
The National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook Friday morning, with high winds expected all day and a wind chill advisory in effect throughout the weekend. Gusts were expected to reach 40 to 50 miles per hour.
“Winds this strong are capable of downing small tree limbs and branches, possibly causing isolated power outages,” the weather service said.
Still, the power system appeared to be holding up well during the day, with only a handful of small outages occurring by Friday afternoon, according to National Grid, the state’s main electric utility. The Pascoag Utility District in Burrillville also reported outages Friday afternoon after a circuit went down.
Just as some Rhode Islanders were looking ahead to the dangerous weather, others were still trying to recover from the storm.
Outside the entrance to the Cranston Public Library’s Central branch, custodian Karen McGuiness was bundled up in a coat, scarf and two pairs of gloves to protect herself from the bitter wind as she cleared a 4-foot-high snowdrift covering a sidewalk.
“I can only shovel for 15 minutes at a time before I have to go in and warm up,” she said. “This is my third time out here already.”
Even though roads had been cleared for the most part, the conditions made for some tricky driving at times. At about 9:30 a.m., a Rhode Island Public Transit Authority bus got stuck in a snowbank while turning onto Westminster Street from Service Road in Providence. Workers had to attach chains to its tires to get it out.
A host of RIPTA routes were detoured during the day, and the authority warned of delays. Meanwhile, the Block Island Ferry canceled all departures on Friday because of the adverse weather.
About 150 people spent Thursday night at Crossroads Rhode Island’s shelter and the number was expected to be high again on Friday.
The organization was working on “emergency mode,” providing food and water all day to those in need, instead of the usual single meal at night, said president and CEO Karen Santilli. Outreach workers were also out on the streets ensuring homeless people had a place to stay.
“We won’t turn anyone away,” Santilli said.
— akuffner@providencejournal.com
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On Twitter: @KuffnerAlex