Dallas officials detail winter response: shelters open, many services suspended

City of Dallas officials on Monday summarized the city’s response to a winter weather event, saying life-safety operations remain the priority and that warming and sheltering services are actively assisting hundreds of residents.

Kevin Oden, director of the city’s emergency management and crisis response department, said impacts were ‘‘tracking as expected’’ and the city remained ‘‘fully in response mode.’’ He told reporters that crisis intervention teams had conducted outreach to more than 430 vulnerable residents and that ‘‘Dallas Fire Rescue and Dallas street response teams have transported more than a 130 individuals into shelter and warming operations during this event.’’

The Fair Park inclement weather shelter, managed in coordination with Austin Street Center, has seen ‘‘over 1,000 individuals’’ come through, said Daniel Roby of Austin Street Center. Roby said shelter operations were running ‘‘pretty smoothly,’’ that 14 pets had been accommodated and that partners had coordinated hotel placements for seven households, involving 10 adults and 13 children. He said families are diverted from the Fair Park auto building to Austin Street Center and then placed with partners such as Family Gateway.

Transportation and public works officials said crews are prioritizing emergency routes and signal failures. ‘‘As of 3PM, we have 14 signals on flash and about 36 with communication failure out of out of 1,500 traffic signals in the system,’’ said Gus Concarli, director of Dallas Transportation and Public Works, adding that field technicians are triaging locations by priority and sanding bridges and thoroughfares.

Public safety leaders urged people to avoid travel. Executive assistant police chief Terrence Rhodes reported the city had responded to 104 vehicle accidents during the event, ‘‘23 of them since midnight this morning,’’ and reiterated that residents should stay off roadways unless travel is essential. Assistant Dallas Fire Chief Scott Paco said DFR answered 53 motor-vehicle accidents, 13 structure-fire calls (seven working), 151 welfare checks and 36 fall incidents during the last shift.

Sanitation officials announced service suspensions. Cliff Gillespie, director of sanitation, said ‘‘all garbage recycling and brush and bulky waste collections are suspended tomorrow’’ and that collection is expected to resume on Tuesday with a one-day shift; transfer stations will be closed, while ‘‘Macombus Bluff Landfill will be open, starting at 9AM tomorrow, conditions permitting.’’ Residents were directed to consult dallas.gov for updates.

During a reporter Q&A, journalists asked about takeovers of intersections by ATVs and jeeps downtown. Rhodes said police were aware and responding and described taking over intersections as an infraction: ‘‘No one can take over the intersection,’’ he said.

Officials closed the briefing by urging residents to check on neighbors, report power outages to Encore and nonemergency issues to Dallas 311 via phone or the Dallas 311 app. The city also announced that Dallas City Hall, cultural centers, recreation centers, libraries, WIC clinics and the MLK Community Center would be closed Monday and that all city boards and committee meetings were canceled for the day.

The briefing was virtual; officials said they would continue to monitor conditions and deploy additional resources as needed. The city directed residents seeking real-time updates to dallas.gov and the Dallas 311 app.