Cold weather shelters to open in LaBelle, North Port

LABELLE, Fla. Shelters will open Wednesday night for residents in need of a warm place to stay as temperatures plunge.

A shelter will open at 6 p.m. at the United Way House on 133 N. Bridge St. in LaBelle, county spokeswoman Electa Waddell said. Lows there are forecast to be in the lower 40s.

Sarasota County officials are opening at shelter at 8 p.m. at the New Hope Community Church on 5600 S. Biscayne Drive in North Port, where lows are forecast to reach the upper 30s.

“It is our responsibility as a community to reach out to those in need,” Hendry County Emergency Management Director Brian Newhouse said.

Hendry County Emergency Management volunteers and the American Red Cross are scheduled to be at the shelter until 7 a.m., but if no one shows up to use the shelter by midnight, it will close then, Waddell said.

Hendry County isn’t opening a shelter in Clewiston, where lows are only expected to be in the upper 40s.

See the full forecast here.