UPDATE: State prepares for cold; Beebe declares emergency

Gov. Mike Beebe declared a state of emergency Wednesday afternoon to help Arkansas officials prepare for the severe temperatures, winds, and winter precipitation expected to enter Arkansas.

The declaration carries with it up to $50,000 from the Governor's Disaster Fund for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management to supply additional support and resources if needed.

"While winter precipitation is predicted for tonight, the extreme temperatures and strong winds forecast in the coming days may create the bigger risk for emergencies," Governor Beebe said. "Hopefully we won't need these emergency provisions, but we want to stay one step ahead of these conditions and the dangers they could present our people."

Officials at ADEM have been in contact with county emergency officials since Tuesday, working to anticipate where additional needs may arise. The Arkansas National Guard is also preparing to provide additional support if necessary, including potentially using armories as overflow shelters.

"Our local communities have the plans and resources in place to deal with severe winter conditions," Beebe said. "However, if large numbers of Arkansans are left without power and warmth in the brutal conditions that are forecast, the State will do all we can to get them sheltered."

North Little Rock will partner with Little Rock in helping anyone needing shelter to get to the Little Rock facility, including North Little Rock police providing rides if necessary, North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays said Wednesday.

Residents are being asked to check on neighbors, particularly the elderly, if there is cause for concern during the frigid temperatures, Hays said. During the extreme cold, he added, anyone can call the 9-1-1 emergency number to get assistance as well.

“We can’t force people to go inside, but we will strongly encourage them by offering transport,” Hays said. “If they desire a blanket or any kind of assistance we think can be helpful in this frigid weather we’re about to face, we are certainly prepared to offer that assistance and strongly encourage people to be inside.”

In addition to its three regular homeless shelters, Little Rock opened a special warming shelter at the Nathaniel Hill Community Complex at 2500 E. 6th St. The shelter will operate through the weekend.

Little Rock Police Department spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said supervisors were briefing officers during all three shifts Wednesday on the weather forecast and the availability of warm shelter space.

"We'll have people going by the places where people usually camp, try to get them in where it's warm," he said.

Officers don't spent much time in the camps, he said, because they don't tend to be violent places. "Anybody who wants our help, we're happy to give it," Hastings said.

The Arkansas National Guard has launched the first State Active Duty mission for 2010 in preparation for an arctic blast as well.

Trucks and personnel from the Institute Support Unit at Camp Robinson are on the road to deliver cots and blankets to five locations in three counties in the northwest area of the state, which is expected to be hit the hardest.

The Rogers Armory, Fayetteville Armory and the Armed Forces Reserve Center at Fort Chaffee are each receiving 100 cots, 200 blankets and a pallet of water from the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

The Yvonne Richardson Center in Fayetteville is slated to receive 200 cots and blankets, and the Powell Senior Center in Springdale is set to receive 150 cots and blankets.

Warming stations will be set up at:

Gentry Baptist Church located at 232 West Main in Gentry AR from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm

The Paris Senior Activity Center located at 331 South 1st Street in Paris, AR from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Sebastian County – First Methodist Church 20 West Denver (the Wesley House) in Greenwood, AR from 7:00 am until 7:00pm

Franklin County: First Methodist Church 503 West Commercial Street, Ozark, AR Thursday January 7 from 7:00am until 7:00pm

Salvation Army centers in Fort Smith, Fayetteville, and Bentonville will be operating warming shelters as well.

Information for this article was contributed by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.