Chicopee High School has been set up as a regional shelter for residents in the Greater Springfield area.
Dennis Specer of Springfield, a volunteer with the Medical Reserve Corps, gets a bed ready at the Red Cross Regional Shelter which was set up at the Chicopee High School gymnasium.Kristen Naglieri, of East Longmeadow, lost power on Saturday afternoon. She figured it would last a few hours. By Monday morning she and her husband packed up their daughter Gianna, 4, and their son Michael, 6, and headed for a shelter set up at Birchland Park Middle School in East Longmeadow.
“It just got too cold for the kids to stay there,” she said.
Birchland Park is one of a dozen shelters set up across Western Massachusetts to deal with the Oct. 29 snowstorm. While many people chose to stay in their homes the first night, more are starting to access the shelters looking for heat and food.
“I think a lot of people were trying to stick it out, but now it’s getting too cold,” said Dawn Leaks, assistant director of chapter support for the American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Chapter, which is providing help at many of the shelters.
In Springfield, city residents without power overwhelmed an emergency shelter at Central High School, exceeding the legal capacity of 400 people, according the city’s health director.
The number of people seeking shelter exceeded 400 at approximately noon Monday, and the city began transferring any new arriving residents to the regional shelter at Chicopee High School, said Helen R. Caulton-Harris, the city’s director of health and human services.
“It just goes to show the devastation of this storm,” Caulton-Harris said. “It really does show how widespread and impactful this has been for residents of the city of Springfield.”
The Springfield shelter opened Sunday at 4 p.m., and will remain open until further notice, Caulton-Harris said. It provides heat, food and cots for sleeping.
There were 439 people registered at Central High School by Monday afternoon. The number seeking shelter exceeded the approximate 350 people who stayed at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield after the June 1 tornado.
“These numbers are unprecedented in sheltering individuals,” Caulton-Harris said. “You see there is such a need.”
East Longmeadow Selectman Enrico J. Villamaino said they were quickly reaching capacity Monday afternoon at Birchland Park Middle School as they took in residents from surrounding towns. Villamaino was able to secure 250 cots for the shelter.
“We served about 600 meals on Sunday and about 100 people stayed overnight,” he said. “ We have a lot of people from Longmeadow and Wilbraham coming in looking for a place to sleep since they don’t have shelters.”
In Hampden, Green Meadows School has been set up as a shelter, said Selectmen Vincent Villamaino. Villamaino has been working closely with fellow selectman and nephew Enrico Villamaino from East Longmeadow to trade supplies.
“We needed cots and he helped us out, they needed more food and a nurse and we helped them. We are basically trying to work together to help anyone who comes our way,” Vincent Villamaino said.
In Westfield, emergency shelters are open at Juniper Park School and Scanlon Hall, both located at Westfield State University.
Juniper Park was opened Sunday night with an estimated 60 residents taking advantage of the shelter. Scanlon Hall opened about mid-day Monday.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said both facilities will remain open as needed.
Also, Noble Hospital is providing shelter services to elderly and those with medical issues.
The cafeteria at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, where the American Red Cross established a regional shelter, resembled the post-battle scene from “Gone With the Wind” as people lay groggily on cots and ambulance workers tended to medical emergencies.
Volunteer Donald Cawrse said the Red Cross was expecting about 25 people, based on the turn-out during Tropical Storm Irene in August. Fortunately, workers had prepared for up to 200, which was the number of people who used the shelter, 173 of them staying overnight. Even as volunteers searched the area for additional cots Saturday night, people were lining up in the school’s lobby to register.
Volunteers made peanut butter and jelly and tuna fish sandwiches for the guests, and Florence Pizza sent over 20 pizzas from its wood-fired oven.
“Everybody seemed to be friendly and taking things in stride,” said Joannah Whitney, who was staying with friends in Florence. Whitney and her friends spent some time at the shelter doing crossword puzzles Saturday before spending a cold night at home.
Cawrse said there were several medical emergencies at the shelter, which he attributed to people forgetting to take their medications with them. The Red Cross planned to keep the shelter open Monday night and address the situation on a day-to-day basis after that.
Some animals spent the night in a nearby school building as the Hampshire Emergency Animal Response Team set up a pet shelter. Volunteers said the animal shelter was important because some people wouldn’t have come without their pets.
Some communities including Longmeadow, South Hadley , Easthampton and Hadley set up warming centers where people could charge their cell phones and computers and enjoy the heat.
“We just came here to warm up,” said Salome Churchill, a young woman holding her baby son, Keller, at Smith Middle School, which was serving as a warming place in South Hadley. “It was so cold, it was freezing at our house.”
Due to the cold conditions the YMCA of Greater Springfield has opened its doors to anyone who wants a hot shower. Those interested must bring their own toiletries and towels.
Leaks said residents who are planning on staying in one of the overnight shelters should bring their own blankets and sleeping bags if they have them.
Staff reporters Pat Cahill, Fred Contrada, Peter Goonan and Ted LaBorde contributed to this report.