Emergency declared as Idalia barrels toward Florida | Palatka Daily News, Palatka, Florida

Shelters to open Tuesday at 5 district schools

Courtesy of the National Weather Service.

Putnam County leaders are asking residents to take precautions as Tropical Storm Idalia nears Florida and is expected to make landfall as a major hurricane.

The Board of County Commissioners declared a state of emergency Monday afternoon, with board Chairman Terry Turner asking residents to pay attention to all storm updates.

“‘Please stay informed,” he said. “Please pay attention to the (Putnam County Emergency Management employees). If they ask you to leave, leave. They won’t be able to come and get you at the height of the storm if it gets bad around here.”

The Palatka City Commission declared a state of emergency unanimously at 6 p.m. Monday. Interim Palatka City Manager Jonathan Griffith said city officials are preparing to work at the Emergency Operations Center, 410 State Road 19, if deemed necessary by county emergency officials.

By Monday afternoon, there had been no mandatory evacuation orders, but people can find their evacuation zone by visiting eoc.putnam-fl.com.

At 11 a.m. Monday, the National Weather Service issued a tropical storm watch for Bostwick, Palatka and Crescent City.

“A tropical storm watch means tropical storm-force winds are possible somewhere within this area within the next 48 hours,” the Weather Service stated Monday.

The wind is predicted to be between 25-35 mph with gusts that could reach up to 50 mph, the Weather Service reported.

Subscribe to receive weather alerts from Putnam County at putnamalert.com.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, Clay Electric Cooperative’s outage map reported none of its 22,272 residential and business customers in Putnam County were without power. At the same time, Florida Power & Light reported one outage among its 20,729 Putnam County customers.

County Administrator Terry Suggs said officials plan to redirect county operations Tuesday toward working the Emergency Operations Center, 410 State Road 19.

Manned sandbag locations opened at 2:30 p.m. today at the following locations:

Huntington Landfill: 1551 County Road 308 in Crescent City.
East Palatka Community Park: 223 Putnam County Blvd. in East Palatka.
Chesser Sand Pit: 145 W. Washington St. in Hawthorne.

Unmanned sandbag locations include:

The Bardin Volunteer Fire Station: 107 Johns Road in Palatka.
Station 19 Volunteer Fire Station: 101 Gail Drive in Satsuma.
Palatka Fire Department: 1101 St. Johns Ave. in Palatka.

Welaka has a sandbag site set up at Sportsmans Harbor, 51 Sportsman Drive, according to a social media post from Mayor Jamie Watts. People must bring shovels for the sandbag stations. Manned stations will provide bags and unmanned stations will not provide sandbags.

The Palatka Fire Department station will be manned by 8 a.m. tomorrow.

"We'll have a couple staff (members) there tomorrow morning to assist the residents with that," Griffith said.

Palatka residents who need sandbags delivered because they are elderly or disabled can call the city's Public Works Department at 386-329-0107 to request a delivery, Griffith said Monday evening.

The Crescent City Commission will meet at 1 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 3 N. Summit St., to decide whether to declare a state of emergency, according to an email Monday.

County officials have been meeting with Putnam County School District officials to determine plans regarding shelters, which, if open, will be at schools throughout the county.

On Monday, Deputy County Administrator J.R. Grimes, who focuses on emergency management operations, expected shelter operations to begin Tuesday afternoon after schools dismiss for the day.

A subsequent update from the district reported schools will be closing Wednesday and Thursday. Extracurricular activities will be canceled starting Tuesday, according to a social media post from the district.

Shelters will open at 5 p.m. Tuesday at:

Jenkins Elementary, 251 County Road 315 in Interlachen.
Ochwilla Elementary, which is pet-friendly, 299 State Road 21 in Hawthorne.
Kelley Smith Elementary, which is for people with special needs, 141 Kelley Smith School Road in Palatka.
Browning-Pearce Elementary, 100 Bear Blvd. in San Mateo.
Middleton-Burney Elementary, 1020 Huntington Road in Crescent City.

“The shelter at Q.I. Roberts will not be open at this time,” the district stated.

People can call the Emergency Operations Center at 386-329-1904 from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

“We’re just going to hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” Grimes said.

Websites that can help include:

This story will be updated as the Palatka Daily News learns more.