Dallas Says Animal Services Are At Full Capacity & Even More Intakes Are Expected This Weekend

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The City of Dallas held a press conference this morning giving updates on the winter weather situation.

Officials said that currently, their biggest challenge was getting sand trucks onto priority routes where there's critical infrastructure and where emergency vehicles may need to travel.

Accidents have also been a significant issue too. "The roads are terrible. It's like an ice rink," said one official. 162 accidents were reported in Dallas yesterday; 108 accidents so far today. While today's numbers are about the same as what you would see during normal weather, they're happening far fewer vehicles on the road. Plus, in the last 24 hours, four emergency vehicles have been hit; the usual number is one per day.

Animal services are at capacity. They will be open this afternoon and this weekend, but officials are not sure how many people will come out. 70 calls so have come in so far, 40 of which were welfare checks. More calls are expected this weekend.

City is seeing three times as many fires as usual (nine versus three on average). At one point, Dallas Fire-Rescue got down to just two battalions – a threshold where even chiefs step in to respond to fires. Thankfully, this only lasted five minutes.

There's been an increase in calls about water pipes (14 versus normally four a day). If you think you have a broken pipe, city officials said to turn your water off to avoid flooding when it thaws.

Over 800 people are staying at the Fair Park shelter. All shelters across the city are capacity and took more people in than they normally could.

Dallas Police and Fire-Rescue are assisting the city's people experiencing homelessness as part of a new effort. Two non-emergency ambulances are being used to transport them to shelters, and the city is urging people to call 911 if they see someone experiencing homelessness outside. 35 people have been transported so far.

Officials said that thankfully, no weather related fatalities have been reported so far.

They also noted a few important differences between this year and last.

The most critical difference this year was power. People were able to stay home, stay warm, and have access to news updates.

Private and public sector cancellations also made a huge difference. More school districts cancelled classes this year and those that did announced earlier.

One other huge difference officials noted was that the ice was far worse this year. While temperatures have thankfully not been as much of an issue (although the cold is still very dangerous), the impact to travel could last a few more days.