Snow that blanketed Statesboro and surrounding areas Tuesday night started melting in the sunshine Wednesday afternoon. But with temperatures forecast to drop to as low as 11 degrees overnight, officials repeated “stay off the roads” warnings, and volunteers kept a well-attended warming shelter open.

While 3 to 4 inches of snow fell across Bulloch County the night before as part of Winter Storm Enzo, the same weather system that brought snow into northern Florida and southern Louisiana, the temperature had dipped only to 23.5 degrees at Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport. Incidentally, its weather information can be found at www.weather.gov, but the airport remained closed Wednesday, reportedly with ice on the runway.

In a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Chairman David Bennett of the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners again gave the first caution about driving, as he had done about 26 hours earlier when the snow was only a prediction. The roads, he said, were still “not in great shape,” although he had found them passable, with four-wheel drive and taking it slow, from the southern end of the county into Statesboro.

“However, just like everybody else has been saying, from the (Georgia) DOT on down to the Sheriff’s Department and Public Works, as soon as the sun starts to go down and the temperatures drop, the roads are going to start to refreeze again. …,” Bennett said. “Travel again tonight is going to be treacherous. We’re going to encourage everybody to stay home again tonight.”

Many stayed home

Mostly, people had heeded the previous day’s warnings, so traffic was light from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, according to Bennett and county Assistant Public Works Director Robert Seamans, who also spoke during the news briefing.

“There were not a lot of people on the roads, and it made a big difference for the first responders,” Bennett said.

Still, the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office had posted on its Facebook page before midnight Tuesday: “We are currently working several crashes due to the weather. Please stay off the roads—it is NOT safe to be out driving or riding around!”

However, no statements about actual accidents were included in Wednesday’s announcements.

Attending the conference remotely, the Statesboro Herald posted a question in the comment thread asking whether there had been any accidents with injuries attributed to weather conditions. But this question went unnoticed or unanswered by the officials.

Bulloch County Public Works crews had applied pea-size gravel to some bridges in preparation for Winter Storm Enzo. Meanwhile, the Georgia Department of Transportation, or GDOT, announced it had first applied brine to overpasses and bridges along interstate routes such as I-16 and major highways such as U.S. 301 and was set to apply salt and calcium chloride in select locations.

Shelters for warmth

Corey Kemp, Bulloch County Emergency Management Agency director, reported that efforts to provide shelter from the cold for people without homes or sufficient home heating were continuing Wednesday. He had called on Bulloch County VOAD, or Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters, to activate shelters, and volunteer leaders from several churches took part in a planning session last weekend.

As Kemp previously reported, Bulloch VOAD’s first shelter to open – and still the only one activated for the public as of Wednesday afternoon – was at Pittman Park United Methodist Church on Fair Road in Statesboro. Pittman Park UMC temporarily repurposes its big social hall, has shower facilities available and, with the help of other churches and donors, provides hot evening meals.

“We had 16 people stay with us last night. So far we’ve served about 24 total,” the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Smith, Pittman Park’s pastor, said in a midday Wednesday phone conversation.

For the safety of people who are already in the shelter, the door is locked at 10 p.m., and anyone who leaves after that time must remain out. But people who come in off the street will be allowed in and accommodated as long as there is room, he said.

Tents and tarps

Volunteers with the churches and other organizations are well aware that there are homeless people in and around Statesboro, and a winter storm highlights the urgency of providing shelter.

“We have a number of folks who are living out of their vehicles and in tents in the woods,” Smith said. “This morning we had an individual the police brought in who was literally sleeping under a tarp in the snow.”

That was Wednesday morning, so that person had been out all night while the snow fell, and was “wet and cold and needed assistance,” when located by Statesboro police, the minister said.

Although Pittman Park is hosting the primary shelter, volunteers from Trinity Episcopal Church, St. Matthew Catholic Church and First Presbyterian Church, all in Statesboro, and from Isle of Hope United Methodist in Savannah are helping to staff it. Grace Community Church was also involved in the planning, Smith said.

Businesses and other donors help provide food for the meals. Shelter operations began at 5 p.m. Monday, and Texas Roadhouse donated chili, baked potatoes and chicken for the first night’s dinner.

Statesboro First United Methodist Church dropped off soup for Tuesday evening’s meal. Pittman Park itself was set to provide pizza Wednesday night. Three Tree Coffee had sent over some pastries and chili as well, and with “all these great donors,” the shelter had leftovers and other items for earlier in the day, Smith said.

Open Hearts Community Mission checks in to see if people at the shelter may want and qualify for the mission’s longer-term assistance. Not only Statesboro Police Department but also Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia Southern and Ogeechee Tech police officers have come by.

“They have been a tremendous resource not only with finding people who need shelter, but also in reassuring people that this is a safe space and open to all people,” Smith said.

Statesboro Mission Outreach Ministries remained “on standby” Wednesday to open as the second shelter if Pittman Park reached capacity. That capacity is 25 individuals, and Smith said that if and when a 20th person arrived, he would call Statesboro Mission Outreach to get ready.

First Presbyterian was identified as another potential shelter, but its role so far was to provide temporary housing to some East Georgia Regional Medical Center employees so they could remain near the hospital.

After last year’s hurricanes, a BullochStrong Long-Term Recovery Fund was created to receive monetary donations for sheltering and recovery efforts, with Pittman Park UMC serving as fiscal agent. See www.bullochstrong.com for more information.

Declaration and closings

Bulloch County administrative offices and the offices of the county’s Superior Court, State Court and Probate Court would remain closed Thursday, Bennett announced.

Statesboro City Hall and other Statesboro administrative offices were still slated to reopen at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. But Statesboro Area Transit had extended its closure through Thursday, announcing that bus service on its routes will resume Friday.

The county and city declarations of local emergency that Bennett and Statesboro Mayor Jonathan McCollar issued Monday remain in effect until 5 p.m. Friday. Statesboro’s declaration mentions a curfew, but does not fill in a curfew time. The county’s declaration omits the curfew section altogether but activated the local Emergency Operations Plan, and both declarations prohibit overcharging for goods and services.

Sheriff’s warning

What Sheriff Noel Brown warned drivers against during Wednesday’s update was intentionally damaging public roads, such as snow-covered or muddy dirt roads, by “cutting doughnuts” or otherwise churning up the road surface with four-wheel-drive vehicles. This, he said, has been a problem after each recent storm.

Likewise, a notice on the Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page carried his reminder “to enjoy the snow safely and responsibly from the comfort of your homes and private properties” and referred to snow as “a rare treat in our area…

“However,” the statement continued, “please be advised: Anyone caught damaging County or State-maintained roads or property, including cutting donuts, will be ticketed. A second offense will result in another ticket and the impoundment of your vehicle.”