Beaufort County Emergency Management officials spent Monday prepping for the extreme cold that will hit as many as 20 states today and tomorrow.

The biggest concern is where county residents will be able to find shelter, and warmth, in case of power outages in the region. According to John Pack, Beaufort County Emergency Services coordinator, the priority is the elderly and those located in local nursing homes, many of which would not have heat should a power outage occur. If power does go out, Emergency Management has plans in place to move nursing home patients to shelters.

It’s a problem unique to the south, Pack said, because plenty of facilities have generators, but not generators powerful enough to run heating systems for entire buildings. So finding buildings that have enough backup power for heating systems and are centrally located can be a challenge, Pack said.

“We’ll be publishing a list of places by tomorrow (Thursday); places we definitely know will be available.” Pack said. “Tonight people won’t feel it — it just won’t warm up tomorrow.”

Two shelters — Washington High School on the north side of the Pamlico and Southside High School on the south side — are on standby for quick action, Pack said.

Pack said requests by major power companies to conserve power during the bitter cold spell are a preventative measure.

“They’re doing that to make sure the grid stays up, that they don’t get overloaded,” Pack said. “Keep your heat at reasonable temperature; don’t heat your house to 85 degrees; don’t heat the outside; don’t come and go so much; don’t leave the door open — it’s common things in the household.”

On the heels of Monday night’s ice storm, Pack said he was pleased that people chose to stay off the road: there wasn’t a single accident in Beaufort County from 11 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday, when roads were slicked with ice. At about 7 p.m. Monday night, the county sent out an alert through its HyperReach system, asking county residents to shelter where they were and stay off the roads, to good effect.

“That’s amazing to me that all those people stayed home,” Pack said.

Emergency Management opened Southside High School at 5 p.m. Tuesday for the Duke Progress Energy residents in and around Aurora who lost power because of Monday’s ice storm. However, power was restored by 6 p.m.