Know what's wrong here in Florida..I'll tell you....

[chrisnnavarre]

With Earl approaching not one official hurricane shelter for Navarre, Florida where I live.

Look at where I live and do the research...Navarre, Florida. Ground Zero for Hurricane Opal. Not one official community hurricane shelter for this area of Santa Rosa County, and we are right on the water. The shelters are all 38-40 miles to the north in Milton and Pace, Florida, and only two roads to get there. Our community has lots of mobile home communities, mostly occupied by the elderly and poor. Where are they going to go???

[/url]http://www.santarosa-emergency.com/shelter.html[url]

[GulfBreezer]

Chris, I am right down the road from you, literally. The reason that those shelters are set up in Milton and Pace is to get people AWAY from the water. Navarre High School will also open as a shelter for those who can't travel.

[Mello1]

With Earl approaching not one official hurricane shelter for Navarre, Florida where I live.

Look at where I live and do the research...Navarre, Florida. Ground Zero for Hurricane Opal. Not one official community hurricane shelter for this area of Santa Rosa County, and we are right on the water. The shelters are all 38-40 miles to the north in Milton and Pace, Florida, and only two roads to get there. Our community has lots of mobile home communities, mostly occupied by the elderly and poor. Where are they going to go???

[/url]http://www.santarosa-emergency.com/shelter.html[url]

Well, I would hope that Navarre learn from Charlie and make evacs for the elderly, special needs and those in manufactured homes mandatory perhaps as soon as tropical warnings goes up as a precaution. Of course, that requires county and state resources and someone has to pay for it. Someone else suggested that every area has hurricane-designed shelters within a close proximity of locals who may not have adequate transportation to get out. I'm sure that others have much better ideas than me.

[Aquawind]

Point Taken..Young and Old take the chance..Unfortunately the Older do pay a higher price for a few reasons...Many of these people have No family.. no Car..No friends.. and are simply to old to make the call or make things happen for themselves..

[SunnyThoughts]

I live in Pace. Its a fairly small town... but the town itself is only 1 mile from Pensacola Bay, or where the bay meets escambia river. You can stand on the shore at Floridatown bay and see the interstate bridge crossing Pensacola Bay. I agree with Chris...There should be more designated shelters for the Navarre area. I agree with Chris about the shelters...there should be more.

[Windsong]

The shelters we have here are only promising to keep people protected from storm surge. That is it. When directly questioned, they admit that they make no promises about the structure except that it is out of range of storm surge. Storm surge is only a part of the story. For the most part, they are schools, and most were built long ago. Nothing has been done to them to reinforce the buildings for higher winds. The shelter I am designated to go to routinly has flooded grounds in an afternoon thunder shower. I can't even imagine being there for a big storm.

[FireCracker]

Why don't you ask this question at next weeks county commission meeting? If you ask in public, something will get done!

[Windsong]

I attended an Emergency Perparedness meeting held in Cocoa Beach a few years back. It was specifically focused on hurricanes and the intention was to educate the public. Being a newly transplanted yankee, I went there to learn. The info I posted about the shelters was right from the horses mouth. I remember the answer I got. "Our responsibility is to keep people safe from storm surge. Whatever the wind brings, it brings"

Welllll alrighty then.....

[FireCracker]

Sorry for the lengthy post but state statutes cover shelters in "educational facilities": Ask about hurricane evacuation shelter deficit in your area. You have the right to get the answers you need.


F.S. 1013.372 Education facilities as emergency shelters.--

(1) The Department of Education shall, in consultation with boards and county and state emergency management offices, include within the standards to be developed under this subsection public shelter design criteria to be incorporated into the Florida Building Code. The new criteria must be designed to ensure that appropriate new educational facilities can serve as public shelters for emergency management purposes. A facility, or an appropriate area within a facility, for which a design contract is entered into after the effective date of the inclusion of the public shelter criteria in the code must be built in compliance with the amended code unless the facility or a part of it is exempted from using the new shelter criteria due to its location, size, or other characteristics by the applicable board with the concurrence of the applicable local emergency management agency or the Department of Community Affairs. Any educational facility located or proposed to be located in an identified category 1, 2, or 3 evacuation zone is not subject to the requirements of this subsection. If the regional planning council region in which the county is located does not have a hurricane evacuation shelter deficit, as determined by the Department of Community Affairs, educational facilities within the planning council region are not required to incorporate the public shelter criteria.

(2) By January 31 of each even-numbered year, the Department of Community Affairs shall prepare and submit a statewide emergency shelter plan to the Governor and the Cabinet for approval. The plan must identify the general location and square footage of existing shelters, by regional planning council region, and the general location and square footage of needed shelters, by regional planning council region, during the next 5 years. The plan must identify the types of public facilities that should be constructed to comply with emergency-shelter criteria and must recommend an appropriate and available source of funding for the additional cost of constructing emergency shelters within these public facilities. After the approval of the plan, a board may not be required to build more emergency-shelter space than identified as needed in the plan, and decisions pertaining to exemptions pursuant to subsection (1) must be guided by the plan.

[Derecho]

[ Someone else suggested that every area has hurricane-designed shelters within a close proximity of locals who may not have adequate transportation to get out. I'm sure that others have much better ideas than me.

Let's say you're elderly, live in a trailer, can't drive, no family. You get a mandatory evac order 24 hours before a landfall.

All you have to do is call your local Sherriff, Fire and Rescue, even EOD; someone will pick you up and take you to the nearest shelter. This system is already set up. No idea why people seem to think it doesn't exist. EVERYONE who wants to obey an evac can do so.

Granted, you can't mull on it for 22 hours and ask to be taken to a shelter 2 hours before landfall.

Yes, it will be a crowded shelter and an unpleasant experience. They won't drive you to Atlanta and put you up in a 4 star hotel. But your chance of dying is infinitely less in a shelter somewhat inland.

[alicia-w]

I agree with you all. We live over in Niceville and the only two shelters in Okaloosa county are in Baker and Crestview. Are they trying to tell us that the home of the largest air force base in the free world is supposed to go to a shelter in Crestview? Niceville High School was a shelter several years ago, but it failed to meet several requirements to maintain that status. So now we have to go elsewhere. Fortunately, we have a house in TN, but have met lots of rain up there too in the past as residuals from storms make way up to the Appalachians...

[wolffeeder]

[ Someone else suggested that every area has hurricane-designed shelters within a close proximity of locals who may not have adequate transportation to get out. I'm sure that others have much better ideas than me.

Let's say you're elderly, live in a trailer, can't drive, no family. You get a mandatory evac order 24 hours before a landfall.

All you have to do is call your local Sherriff, Fire and Rescue, even EOD; someone will pick you up and take you to the nearest shelter. This system is already set up. No idea why people seem to think it doesn't exist. EVERYONE who wants to obey an evac can do so.

Granted, you can't mull on it for 22 hours and ask to be taken to a shelter 2 hours before landfall.

Yes, it will be a crowded shelter and an unpleasant experience. They won't drive you to Atlanta and put you up in a 4 star hotel. But your chance of dying is infinitely less in a shelter somewhat inland.

I noticed while poking around the net for evacuation zone maps and such that in Palm Beach County at least there is some sort of list that you can sign up for if you have transportation problems so someone can call and ask you if you need a ride to a shelter. You might need to be old or disabled or something, I have a car so I didn't pay too much attention to the details.

Evidently in some cases you don't even have to request being put on the list. One of the recent storms that threatened, Floyd, maybe Irene, I don't remember, I got an unexpected call asking if my disabled friend I care for needed a ride. Somebody else put him on that list, it wasn't me. I thought it was a nice touch though.

At any rate, if you think you might die, is having to drive 40 miles really that inconvienient? Some people have to do worse every working day.