SAN ANTONIO — Mayor Ron Nirenberg announced that the City of San Antonio opened a warming center at the Henry B. González Convention Center as hundreds of thousands of homes in the area have lost power in sub-freezing weather.
City officials said that the center would prioritize the elderly and people with young children. They will start with 500 cots, and that can be expanded if more people come. The center opened at 5 p.m., and people were able to call 311 between 4:30 and 7 p.m. Tuesday for VIA transportation assistance.
Around 10 a.m. Wednesday, the City sent a press release stating the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center will remain open throughout the day. Authorities will monitor the weather conditions and status of power outages to determine whether the shelter will stay open overnight.
Leaders were asked why it took so long to open this center when the freeze did not come as a surprise. One of the reasons given was that they did not expect sustained power outages this severe, and once that became an issue, the roads were already in bad shape.
“We need to understand the decisions that were made and why the blackouts occurred where they did,” Nirenberg said about the rolling outages that have hammered the area.
Carl Certh was one of the first ones that showed up with his family to the convention center on Tuesday.
"It has been really hard, he said. Currently in my house it is has been 57 degrees. Looking for a place to stay. But, all the hotels are either booked or they have no power."
City Manager Erik Walsh also addressed why it took until Tuesday evening to open this center.
"I think it was the unexpected prolonged loss of power that was unexpected," Walsh said.
Walsh said a lot of other city facilities don't have power, and they wanted a spot they knew would have electricity.
Four city council members - Melissa Cabello Havrda, Rebecca Viagran, Ana Sandoval, and Roberto Trevino - said the public deserves better and said more needs to be done. They are calling for a council meeting, because they said as city leaders they need to act now.
"We have been asking for proactive measures," Trevino said. "Not reactive measures to this crisis."
"This is an unacceptable response and catastrophic failure," Cabello Havrda said. "It is evident of poor planning and even worse communication. My colleagues and I intend to hold those responsible accountable to the public."
"I am so sorry we are all having to go through this together," Viagran said.
At the time that the 500-cot shelter was announced, CPS Energy's outage map showed about 250,000 homes in the area without power. As of 10 p.m., it was nearing 300,000.
