The city of New Orleans opened an emergency shelter at the Rosenwald Center Tuesday night to provide refuge for up to 120 people during Tropical Storm Bertha. City staff plans to keep the shelter open through Thursday morning, depending on the weather.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, the city opened its only overnight refuge for people affected by the storm. Taylor Diles, director of New Orleans’ homeless services, said private shelters can send individuals to the Rosenwald Center once they reach capacity.
“The summertime in New Orleans is treacherous,” Diles said. “For the last week or so, we’ve been dealing with extreme heat, and that’s extremely taxing on the body, and so you have those folks who are already in a vulnerable situation that are then exposed to the elements and then have a tropical storm coming. To even provide a couple of nights of peace, a hot meal, some cold water. It goes a long way.”…