WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Local homeless shelters are scrambling to find enough beds for residents as colder weather approaches.

• Before Hurricane Florence, the Good Shepherd Center averaged about 65 to 70 people a night, but following the storm that number has almost doubled.
• The additional residents are people who weren't homeless before the hurricane, but are now displaced.
• Contract work is starting at The Salvation Army in the middle of January, and they expect to be back up and running by March.

Before Hurricane Florence, the Good Shepherd Center averaged about 65 to 70 people a night, but following the storm that number has almost doubled.

"We had added bunk beds," said Katrina Knight, the executive director. "We have, at times, converted our one little meeting room to sleeping space for homeless families. The American Red Cross has donated cots to us in case we should need them for overflow, and so that's been really helpful."

The additional residents are people who weren't homeless before the hurricane, but are now displaced. Also, with The Salvation Army of Cape Fear's shelter being closed from Florence damages, they can't house their usual 50 to 60 residents. Some of those residents are now bunking at the Good Shepherd Center.

"Just imagine that what you do everyday that makes you, you and you can't do that anymore, and so it's frustrating," said Major Mark Craddock, corps officer for The Salvation Army of Cape Fear. "And, in the mean time, we're very fortunate we have good community partners that are helping us kinds of take up the sheltering slack."

Contract work is starting at The Salvation Army in the middle of January, and they expect to be back up and running by March.