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CNN Live At Daybreak

Deep Freeze in Northeast

Aired January 15, 2004 - 06:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Even hardy New Englanders are wincing at the incredibly low temperatures and wind chill factors right now.
For more on the deep freeze in the Northeast, we got live to reporter Jim Armstrong from CNN affiliate WFXT.

He's at a homeless shelter in the Boston suburb of Quincy.

Good morning.

JIM ARMSTRONG, WFXT CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning to you.

You know, you hit the nail on the head right there. It's not that New Englanders aren't accustomed to cold winter weather like this, it's just that it's so cold now, we've actually turned it into essentially a public health concern outside. We're talking about temperatures that could bring on frostbite in less than a minute, in many cases. So that's why we're here at a homeless shelter this morning, to part -- to illustrate part of the problem that comes in when simply there are too many people and not enough beds.

This homeless shelter is called Father Bill's Place. It's in the South Shore town of Quincy, Massachusetts.

They have enough room here usually for about 95 people. Last night I'm told they squeezed a total of 135 people here simply because the need is so big and there's just no place else for people to go. In the past two years, the State of Massachusetts has lost a total of about 300 beds that are ordinarily used in homeless shelters. In fact, this cafeteria, which is a cafeteria right now, just about an hour ago was actually a makeshift bedroom of sorts, with a whole bunch of cots laid out so that people could at least have someplace warm to put their heads down -- Carol?

COSTELLO: Oh, and it's so important because just a couple of weekends ago a homeless person froze to death in Baltimore, Maryland. So we're glad that people are finding shelter today in Boston.

Jim Armstrong from CNN affiliate WFXT.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 15, 2004 - 06:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Even hardy New Englanders are wincing at the incredibly low temperatures and wind chill factors right now.
For more on the deep freeze in the Northeast, we got live to reporter Jim Armstrong from CNN affiliate WFXT.

He's at a homeless shelter in the Boston suburb of Quincy.

Good morning.

JIM ARMSTRONG, WFXT CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning to you.

You know, you hit the nail on the head right there. It's not that New Englanders aren't accustomed to cold winter weather like this, it's just that it's so cold now, we've actually turned it into essentially a public health concern outside. We're talking about temperatures that could bring on frostbite in less than a minute, in many cases. So that's why we're here at a homeless shelter this morning, to part -- to illustrate part of the problem that comes in when simply there are too many people and not enough beds.

This homeless shelter is called Father Bill's Place. It's in the South Shore town of Quincy, Massachusetts.

They have enough room here usually for about 95 people. Last night I'm told they squeezed a total of 135 people here simply because the need is so big and there's just no place else for people to go. In the past two years, the State of Massachusetts has lost a total of about 300 beds that are ordinarily used in homeless shelters. In fact, this cafeteria, which is a cafeteria right now, just about an hour ago was actually a makeshift bedroom of sorts, with a whole bunch of cots laid out so that people could at least have someplace warm to put their heads down -- Carol?

COSTELLO: Oh, and it's so important because just a couple of weekends ago a homeless person froze to death in Baltimore, Maryland. So we're glad that people are finding shelter today in Boston.

Jim Armstrong from CNN affiliate WFXT.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com