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Putnam County School District employees are stationed at the front of the Browning-Pearce Elementary School cafeteria, which was one of six shelters used for Hurricane Ian. -
Shelter occupants at Browning-Pearce Elementary School receive lunch Thursday afternoon as Hurricane Ian continued to affect the area. -
Shelter occupants at Browning-Pearce Elementary School converse with each other Thursday afternoon as rain and wind continued to swirl outside.
Hundreds of people have taken refuge inside Putnam County shelters as wind and rain from Hurricane Ian continue to pummel the area.
Putnam County School District officials said there have been no incidents in the shelters that have opened in six schools. Shortly after 2 p.m Thursday, Putnam County Emergency Management announced on Facebook the shelters at Q.I. Roberts Junior-Senior High School in Florahome and Robert H. Jenkins Elementary School in Interlachen would be closing “effective immediately.”
As of 8 a.m. Thursday, there were 320 people who were housed at the shelters, Superintendent Rick Surrency said, but that number continues to fluctuate as some people return home and others arrive throughout the day.
“I think we’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “These (schools) are hurricane-rated, and this is why they’re being used.”
Shelters opened at 6 p.m. Tuesday, hours after students were released early from school. Shelters will remain open until 6 p.m. Friday, so people are encouraged to go to shelters if the need arises, said Paula Adams, the assistant principal at James A. Long Elementary School.
She and Crescent City Junior-Senior High School Assistant Principal Aaron Gieselman were stationed at Browning-Pearce on Thursday afternoon, and they both said everything was running smoothly.
At its peak, the shelter housed 59 people, but a family of five had returned home by Thursday afternoon.
“We encountered no real issue,” Adams said. “We have an eclectic group of people here for a wide variety of reasons.”
The two assistant principals said people ranged in ages from toddlers to senior citizens, and most of them were from San Mateo and Satsuma as well as near Dunns Creek. Adams said there was a group of shelter occupants that was passing through Putnam County and intended to take a train to California before Ian altered their plans.
While Adams has been working at the county’s storm shelters off and on for eight years, this is Gieselman’s first time being an administrator at a shelter during a hurricane.
There was no cause for concerns, he said, and everything was as pleasant as could be, given the circumstances.
“I really had no expectations,” Gieselman said. “I just heard depending on how many people are at your facility, the busier it could be.”
Gieselman, Adams and Surrency lauded the hard work school district workers put in to get schools ready to accommodate the community.
The superintendent said more than 100 district employees have volunteered at shelters, and during the weekend, they and other employees will have to get the six facilities ready for school to resume Monday.
Surrency was relieved Ian didn’t affect Putnam as drastically as it did the central and southern areas of the state. But he wants people to remember the last day of hurricane season is Nov. 30.
“In the weekend, we’ll have to do everything in reverse,” Surrency said of getting schools ready for students. “We were really fortunate, but we’re not out of the woods yet with hurricanes.”
For information about hurricane shelters, including how long they’ll remain open, call 386-329-1904.