LI shelters offered for overnight freeze

While temperatures were expected to dip below zero in some areas Sunday night, Long Island's social services agencies spent Sunday trying to find homeless people who had thus far declined offers of a warm bed.

Officials in both Nassau and Suffolk said they are on the lookout for people who would otherwise spend the night outdoors and will seek to persuade them to come inside.

"We start from a level of serious concern," Gregory Blass, Suffolk's Department of Social Services commissioner, said Sunday. "It's probably the coldest night so far this year, the coldest in several."

Indeed, the National Weather Service outpost in Upton reported overnight temperatures expected between -3 and 5 degrees, with wind chill readings as low as -15, said meteorologist Lauren Nash. Monday's forecast is not much better, with high temperatures forecast between 13 and 19 degrees and wind chills in the single digits during the day.

In Nassau, county shelters are already at capacity, said Connie Lassandro, the director of the Nassau office of housing and homeless services. But Lassandro said she has rooms available at local hotels and elsewhere to place people with nowhere else to go. "If somebody knows somebody or sees someone, they should call and we'll dispatch a taxicab to take them to a shelter," she said. "Nobody will go cold."

Blass said Suffolk does not expect a significant increase in the number of people it houses - from about 400 families and between 175 and 200 childless people - during the extreme cold because it has already done significant outreach. About a dozen social services staffers are checking sites where homeless people are known to congregate and Suffolk Police are also on the lookout, he said.

Home Energy Assistance Programs in each county are also available for people in homes who need emergency fuel oil during the winter weather. Lassandro said Nassau is ready to make deliveries. Blass said Suffolk expects to make emergency deliveries this week and added that the number of applications for the county's program are far exceeding last year's figures.

While temperatures are expected to be more moderate later in the week, Nash said there could be a snow dusting Tuesday and forecasters are "keeping an eye" on a storm likely headed up the East Coast that could hit late Wednesday. She said it appears similar to the system that dumped between 8 and 17 inches on Long Island two weeks ago, but added that it is too early to predict the storm's path and whether temperatures will bring snow or rain.

STAYING WARM

Emergency numbers to call for people in need of shelter, or for those who know someone in need of shelter, or for people who need emergency fuel oil during extreme winter weather:

NASSAU: 866-WARM-BED (866-927-6233)

SUFFOLK: 631-854-9100