MODESTO, Calif. — As temperatures are expected to hit the triple digits for the next three days in Modesto, there's a large homeless community struggling to stay cool at the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter (MOES).
"It is so bad, it just makes me want to cry," Dren, a resident of MOES said.
"When you're out in the sun like this, it bakes you," said MOES resident Jenell Vierra.
It's another summer day at MOES, but on Wednesday, temperatures topped 100 degrees.
"My joke is the devil doesn't even come visit here, it's that hot," Dren said.
Dren said she has been living at the MOES since the city opened the outdoor shelter back in February. Recently, she says the heat has been taking a toll on everyone.
"It's bad, it's depressing bad because you just get into a slump, you don't get the energy, you don't have the energy, you don't have the motivation because that heat will drain every ounce that you have in your body and it's just miserable," she said.
Heatwave or not, the nearly 400 homeless people living at the MOES have just one spigot to share as their primary source of water on site. Since ABC10 last checked in back in June, the city has since added four valves so more people can use it at once.
"People come up and they'll fill up their containers, they'll have wagons or other types of carts, and they really are good about sharing those types of carts and they'll take it back to their tent for either washing their clothes, dishes or drinking water," said Doug Holcomb, the MOES operations manager.
On top of keeping ice water and bottled water on hand most of the time, Holcomb said they've also since installed misters in a couple of their main community tents.
"We'll have misters going all the way down on both sides," he said.
And they do provide free transportation to cooling centers. Some say it's just a matter of getting motivated to leave.
"The good thing about the heat is it does motivate you to get out of here but it's getting the motivation to get our day going that the heat will drain right out of you," Dren said.
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