The ice storm that hit South Carolina and much of the western and eastern United States this past weekend was impactful across communities of all kinds. Grocery stores were emptied of food staples, roads and sidewalks were salted, electronics were charged, flashlights and generators were bought and everyone hunkered down.
On Wednesday, Jan. 21, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm, and a winter weather watch was issued for parts of South Carolina, specifically the Upstate, from the morning of Jan. 24 through early Monday afternoon, according to Greenville News.
The city of Clemson released closure notices on Sunday, stating that city offices would be closed on Monday and that CATbus services and trash collection would be suspended until conditions improved.
The city later noted in a social media post that the weather would get worse before it got better, and that power outages would be a growing concern.
Duke Energy reported more than 200 outages as of Monday, which dropped to 35 the next day, with 1,145 customers out of power as of Tuesday.
Clemson University canceled all classes on Monday, as most faculty members and students were unable to leave their homes due to hazardous driving conditions, and declared an e-learning day on Tuesday.
The winter storm’s extremely cold conditions — the temperature in Clemson on Monday dropped to 19 °F — prompted emergency officials and nonprofit organizations to open warming shelters in the Upstate and western North Carolina for individuals in need of a safe, heated place to stay, according to Greenville News.
Extreme weather conditions, like ice storms, are particularly hard on animal and homeless shelters.
One of South Carolina’s largest homeless services, Miracle Hill Ministries, is providing an emergency shelter for men, women and families during the storm. Miracle Hill currently has two warming shelter locations: one in Greenville and another in Spartanburg.
Miracle Hill Shepherd’s Gate is located at 11 Regency Hill Drive, Greenville. Sheltering young women and mothers, it’s currently operating 24 hours a day, but intake hours are from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The shelter is focused on providing quality care to its residents, Kirby Murdaugh-Bochman, a staff member at MHM, told the Tiger in an interview.
The facility can accommodate up to 62 beds, both for women and children, and has never turned anyone away due to capacity.
“During severe weather, we open our cold weather shelter, and we do not turn anyone away,” Murdaugh-Bochman said. When referring to the winter storm, she clarified that the shelter was expecting “three times more people” at its location.
The Greenville location was prepared for cold weather conditions with generators, a plentiful food supply, blankets and volunteers.
Due to the hazardous driving conditions created by the storm, which WYFF 4 Chief Meteorologist Chris Justus predicted on Jan. 24, staff members and volunteers were scheduled to be on-site at Miracle Hill Shepherd’s Gate.
According to Murdaugh-Bochman, the shelter had three staff members — along with several volunteers who were able to make it to the shelter safely — spend the night to ensure help was always accessible.
Another Miracle Hill Ministries facility in Greenville, located at 575 W. Washington St., accepts only men.
Stephen Ridgeway, a front desk staff member, told The Tiger in an interview that the facility prioritizes providing warm, stable housing and is offering multiple services during the winter storm. These services include stable housing, meals, a place to sleep and power. It is open from 8 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. throughout this week.
Another aspect of the winter storm the local community had to prepare for was its impact on animal shelters. These shelters had to call for emergency fosters to provide temporary homes for animals this past weekend, according to WYFF 4.
“With single-digit temperatures possible, we are deeply worried about our ability to keep our animals safe and warm if staff are unable to travel safely to the shelter,” Greenville Humane Society wrote in a Facebook post on Jan. 24.
The shelter asked for fosters to prepare for cats and dogs of all ages and conditions — babies, adults, healthy animals and those with minor illnesses — to stay up to a week following the storm, and promised to provide all necessary supplies, including food, toys and support.
“All you need to give is a warm, loving place for an animal to ride out the storm,” the social media post continued.
Greenville Humane Society, along with other local animal shelters such as Paw Partners and Pickens County Humane Society, fostered out and provided safe homes for over 100 animals by the end of the day on Jan. 25, before the storm hit.
Sophomore biosystems engineering major Sofia O’Reilly and her roommates learned about fostering dogs for the winter storm weekend from several reposts of the Greenville Humane Society’s Instagram posts. By the time the group called the organization, they were out of animals — but connected them with Anderson Paws.
“They were so helpful in finding the right dogs for us,” O’Reilly told The Tiger. “Overall it’s been a great experience. Our two dogs are so excited to play together and get so much attention and love from us. We bring them back on Friday and it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to them they really are cuties.”
However, this weekend’s winter ice storm might not be the last Clemson sees of the cold, icy weather. On Saturday, Jan. 31, the Clemson area is predicted to see light snow, and on Feb. 6, rain or ice is expected, according to The Weather Channel.
