After heavy rain and cold temperatures, shelter at 1530 S. Roosevelt opened Nov. 5 for provide overnight stays and navigation services.

The cold weather came “way early,” Alan Evans, executive director of Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers said. “We weren’t expecting it. We decided, ‘Let’s just figure out how to make this thing happen.’ Everybody was working together — and they knocked it out of the park.”

Clatsop County Emergency Manager Justin Gibbs, the state Department of Human Services and Clatsop Community Action joined with Helping Hands and Seaside city staff to volunteer in the overnight shelter and support its operation through Nov. 10. P&L Johnson Mechanical fixed the heater at Seaside’s warming center at no cost.

Tent campers were impacted by tidal flooding, rain and cold, Paul Knoch, the police department’s community service officer, said.

In response, the city provided an additional lot east of the recycling center that is drier and protected from the wind.

Ten people — the center’s current capacity — came to the emergency shelter overnight Nov. 5. Six more used the shelter on Nov. 6.

“I spoke with one camper who told me she was planning to stay in the temporary camping area despite the wind and rains,” Knoch said. “She had a new tent and was staying warm and dry with her two dogs.”

Seaside City Manager Spencer Kyle said staff recognized the need and made sure campers at the Mill Ponds were aware of the opening of the warming center.

The Mill Ponds site, off Alder Mill Avenue, was chosen by the City Council in July as a temporary site for homeless campers as part of the city’s ordinance establishing time, place and manner guidelines to address homelessness. The camp at Mill Ponds will remain open through the winter, Kyle said.

The city is working towards having a permanent camp site identified, Kyle said. “Any permanent site will be drier than the current site. The other benefit of a permanent site is the ability for the city to make investments into the site for the safety and comfort of the campers.”

He expects to have a discussion with the City Council about permanent locations at the December meeting.

To help support warming center operations, contact Viviana Matthews at Clatsop Community Action at 971-308-1031.