- October 29, 2024
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As Flagler County's emergency management staff prepare for hurricane season and the possibility of sheltering hundreds people during a storm, COVID-19 is presenting new challenges.
"We have to assume that people may have contracted it, whether they known it or not or we know it or not."
— JONATHAN LORD, Flagler County emergency management director
Hurricane shelters can't turn away people seeking shelter, so the county's shelters will need to be able to accommodate people who are positive for the virus. That means makeshift isolation rooms created in the schools the are used as shelters.
Shelter staff will also screen people's temperatures on entry and ask a series of screening questions, and will try to ensure that people who are ill aren't sharing facilities like bathrooms with the rest of the shelter population, Flagler County Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord said during a media roundtable discussion June 1.
"They'll be cleaning a lot, and there will also be mask wearing," he said. "...We will do everything we can to keep the known sick person from the unknown one." He noted that the schools are large, which will make isolation possible.
The county will also be increasing the amount of space allotted for each shelter evacuee, from the current 20 square feet to 60 square feet. But movement will be more limited, with shelter guests asked to stay in their assigned areas as much as possible.
"We have to assume that people may have contracted it, whether they known it or not or we know it or not," he said.
That might mean that the county uses more shelters than it otherwise would. Four schools — Rymfire Elementary, Bunnell Elementary, Wadsworth Elementary and Buddy Taylor Middle School — generally serve as shelters, opening one after another based on need.
And if someone becomes severely ill when the winds are too high for ambulances to move?
"We have to prepare for that whether we’re in the world of COVID or not," Lord said. "We always have paramedics ... in all of the shelters."
During the worst of the storm, he said, they'll have to do their best.
During hurricanes, Lord said at a June 1 County Commission meeting, 99% of the people showing up at shelters don't technically need to be there — but the county can not turn them away.
In hurricanes, it's storm surge that's the biggest danger — not wind — and Flagler County's hurricane evacuation zones were built to reflect that: They're in areas at risk of inundation. (See a map of evacuation zones HERE).
If you're in an evacuation zone, he said, "Don’t gamble with the water. Please come to the shelter."
But if you're not, and you're in a site-built house (not a trailer or mobile home) that doesn't have serious structural damage, you don't need to go to a hurricane shelter or evacuate.
And for those who evacuate, Lord added, they're generally better off evacuating tens of miles than hundreds of miles: Florida's stringent building code means that buildings within the state are built to higher standards than those in many neighboring states, so people who evacuate to Georgia or Alabama risk placing themselves in a less-sturdy building should the storm shift and move their way. Plus, they run the risk of being caught in, or helping cause, traffic jams on the interstates.
The National Hurricane Center is expecting an active Atlantic hurricane season season this year, with 13-19 named storms, of which six to10 are expected to be hurricanes. Three to six of those are expected to be major hurricanes.
Lord reminded county commissioners that all it takes is one.
"We have to be just as prepared, either way," he said. "If one comes here, we have to be ready for the impacts."
Residents, he said, should also be preparing their disaster supply kits, reviewing insurance coverage and signing up for emergency notices if they haven't already, Lord said.
For more information, view Flagler County's Disaster Preparedness Guide.
