Roughly 5.6 million people have been ordered to evacuate Florida as one of the largest hurricanes in state history threatens to unleash 12-foot storm surges and winds of up to 155 mph.
But some of those residents — roughly a quarter of the state’s population — have decided to ignore evacuation orders, troubling Gov. Rick Scott.
“That bothers me. I want everyone to evacuate,” Scott said Friday night at the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee.
Scott later added, “This storm will be like nothing the state has ever seen.”
The opportunity for people in the southern portion of the state to leave ended on Friday night. As of midnight, motorists were directed to stay off interstates and highways and shelter nearby.
“We don’t want them to be on the road – not if they’re in that southern region,” Scott said.
People in the central portion of the state will also be forced to evacuate to nearby shelters as the storm moves north along the peninsula.
“If you are in an evacuation zone, you need to leave now,” Scott said.
Evacuations continued through Friday for prison inmates and those under medical care. Irma prompted a consortium of state health care agencies to evacuate 168 nursing homes, 17 hospitals and 39 residential rehabilitation facilities.
State agencies, including the Department of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Administration, began to plan to move patients when the storm posed a threat. They enacted contingency plans created for this kind of emergency, DOH spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said.
She didn’t know how many patients were evacuated.
Many nursing home patients were sent to facilities pre-determined in the contingency plan. However, the size of the storm left facilities and the state Division of Emergency Management scrambling to find additional room in Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama, said Kristen Knapp, spokeswoman for the Florida Health Care Association.
“We had made plans to move patients to facilities in Orlando that were already identified in the plan and then the cone kept moving up,” Knapp said. “That meant reaching out to facilities outside the state.”
Knapp said nursing home patients were moved in a variety of suitable vehicles, usually organized at the local level.
“And it’s not just the patient going, it’s the staff, it’s their medication, it’s beds,” Knapp said.
The Florida Department of Corrections had evacuated 5,240 prisoners from 33 facilities by Thursday evening. More facilities were evacuated Friday in response to the shifting threat of the storm.
“We expect that number of inmates to grow throughout the day,” Corrections spokeswoman Michelle Glady said.
Evacuations for residents and visitors will continue as the storm that is wider than the state itself gets closer to the Keys by late Saturday. Gas supplies from large ships will continue arriving in Ports Tampa, Everglades and Jacksonville. The fuel will be trucked to gas stations under police escort.
DEM staff are working with gas station owners to keep businesses open until evacuations are completed. Employees would even be given a police escort, Scott said.
All 1,750 Florida Highway Patrol troopers will work 12-hour shifts to maintain order during evacuations. The state’s network of Road Ranger motorist assistance crews also has been deployed around the clock.
The state has not yet reversed traffic direction on roadways to one way because it would impede travel for emergency vehicles. The method, known as a contraflow, was deemed a last resort by state emergency officials earlier this week.
Hurricane Irma Forces 700,000 More to Evacuate in Florida; Thousands Already Without Power
“Another 700,000 people have evacuated in Florida head of Hurricane Irma, bringing the total to nearly 7 million residents – roughly one-third of the state’s population – who have fled the storm.”
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/hurricane-irma-florida-tampa-miami-impacts?utm_medium=email&utm_source=website&cm_ven=Email&cm_cat=
All Lanes of I-16 in Georgia Now Westbound for More Than 500,000 Irma Evacuees
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/hurricane-irma-georgia-preparations-impacts
Hey Angel! 😀
Hey, #1! 😀
Is it me or did they know about this whole hurricane thing way before even Harvey hit?
I mean the logistics to move everything had to have been in the works for months, especially moving inmates and patients along with their beds, even.
Seriously, this takes weeks, if not months of coordination.
Next stop…
http://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/hurricane-jose-threatens-destruction-caribbean/207704
“Scott later added, “This storm will be like nothing the state has ever seen.”
Gee… haven’t heard THAT one before. 🙄
It’s a fleeing, flailing, frenzy of Floridians. followed by a furiously ferocious phenomenon of fantastic fraction, sure to finish Florida forever.
Stay tuned….
The people go, the looters arrive.
You mean the ones OTHER than the pigs?
Good point!
My dad’s meat market was broken into in the 60’s. By the time he arrived the police were stealing steaks out the walk-in cooler and cigarettes were missing off the counter.
Biggest thieves in the country.
Other than the politicians, that is.