Florida Adds Thousands of New Hurricane Shelter Spaces
The Florida Department of Emergency Management has spent $1.2 million to add a whopping 5,141 new hurricane shelter spaces in schools throughout the state. These projects were financed by the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program and Hurricane Shelter Deficit Reduction Program — programs designed to increase a structure’s ability to withstand hurricanes.
This is great news for the state of Florida, as hurricane activity is gradually increasing and more shelters are needed to withstand the potential wave of future hurricanes.
How the Hurricane Shelters were Created
In a nutshell, schools were retrofitted to promote sheltering. Transforming schools into hurricane shelters primarily involves making the windows and doors of each facility more wind-resistant. In addition to creating more shelter spaces, these initiatives have the added benefit of making schools safer in general.
In addition to the 5,141 new shelter spaces, the initiative also created 133 special needs shelter spaces. This is critical, especially for a state like Florida which has an aging population. The special needs spaces are different because they require more square footage per person to accommodate larger cots, medical equipment or wheelchairs.
All 5,000-plus of the new shelter spaces are located in St. Johns County, which brings the total number of shelter spaces in the county to over 14,000. While this might seem like overkill, I applaud the effort because it ensures that the state – or at least St. Johns county – is prepared for the worst. Simply put, with the increasing frequency and severity of storms expected due to climate change, it’s better to have too many hurricane shelter spaces versus too few.
It also makes life easier for utility companies in the state. For example, evacuation protocols are only effective if residents have some place to go. Having these extra hurricane shelters available when needed should boost residents’ propensity to follow evacuation orders, which in turn will help utility response personnel get the recovery job done more effectively and efficiently. All in all, it’s a true win-win!
