Some wait for things to get back to normal
SHELTERS
Shelters: Some wait for things to get back to normal

By Bryan Dean

Published: December 14, 2007

With temperatures dipping into the 20s Thursday and a fresh round of wintry weather in the forecast for today, officials expect more people will seek shelter at the Cox Convention Center.

About 350 people stayed at the shelter Wednesday night. The shelter is a combined effort of the American Red Cross, the United Way and Oklahoma City.

The shelter can hold about 700 people, and city officials said they can expand its capacity if the weather worsens.

Vince Hernandez, chief operating officer for the Red Cross, said consolidating several smaller shelters helped improve the spirits of many of those seeking help.

"Having the space that we have here has eased some of the tension,” Hernandez said.

Those seeking shelter at the Cox Convention Center said they were grateful for the warm bed and hot food, but frustration was growing as many went into their fourth day without electricity.

Michelle James and her husband tried to ride it out.

The power went off early Monday. They slept through the cold with their daughter in their two-bedroom house near NE 15 and Bryant Avenue.

But by the second night, James said she had to find a warm place to stay.

She left her daughter at her mother's house, but there wasn't room for James and her husband, so they came to the Cox Convention Center.

James, 42, said living at a shelter is inconvenient, but it's better than the alternative.

"Your whole lifestyle just starts floating away when you lose electricity,” James said. "You lose your gas, your lights. It's your source of heat and food. I don't want to freeze to death.”

When you are 9 years old, it can be difficult to understand why the lights and the heater won't work.

Jaymie Lee remembers the branches cracking outside and the lights going out. She remembers crawling into bed with her mother and huddling under a big blanket to try to stay warm.

"It stayed warm for an hour or two, but it got really cold,” Jaymie said.

Jaymie, her mother and her 12-year-old sister sought shelter the next day. School, like the power, is out. But it's not a vacation for Jaymie. She said she misses her own bed and her own toys.

Still, she said she's trying to make the best of it.

"I don't have my Game Boy, but it's fun because there are lots of toys here, too.”

June Ross watched children play dodgeball at the Cox Convention Center shelter Thursday while she sat with Connie Kuebeck, a volunteer nurse at the shelter.

Ross, 81, uses a wheelchair. She said the toughest part about staying in the shelter is the uncertainty, not knowing when your life will be back to normal.

"You just don't know what to do,” Ross said.

Beyond the inconvenience caused by the storm, Ross is grieving for a tree she planted when she and her husband bought their southwest Oklahoma City home 12 years ago.

"We lost the whole tree,” Ross said. "It was a big tree. It just made me sick. It wasn't even as tall as I was when I planted it.”

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