Evacuation ordered for boats, mobile homes as tropical storm tracks toward the Keys
Monroe County on Friday declared a state of emergency in anticipation of Tropical Storm Laura and ordered a mandatory evacuation for people living on boats and in mobile homes, recreational vehicles, travel trailers and campers.
All RVs must be removed from the Keys by noon Sunday, county spokeswoman Kristin Livengood said in a statement.
The latest advisory from the National Weather Service has the Florida Keys in the cone of the storm, which could begin affecting the island chain Sunday afternoon into Monday morning.
The worst of the weather appears headed to the Keys on Monday morning, according to Craig Setzer, chief meteorologist for Miami Herald’s news partner CBS4.
The newest model shows the storm, which has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, then going through the Florida Straits between the Florida Keys and Cuba on Monday morning and shows the storm entering the Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane by midweek.
“Stay close to a radio, have one of those battery-operated radios,” Monroe County Mayor Heather Carruthers said in a Facebook Live session on Friday afternoon. “Don’t be too worried about it. I’ve been here over 20 years now and I’ve gone through maybe 16 hurricanes. It often sounds really dangerous but it’s often not quite as bad as it sounds. Stay inside. Stay safe.”
County officials are scheduled to meet Saturday morning to discuss general population shelters. Those shelters will open to people living in vulnerable homes and boats at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Livengood said.
Officials are also in the process of reaching out to special needs residents to discuss shelter and transportation options, Livengood said.
The county has not ordered visitors to evacuate but is warning them to consider leaving by Sunday afternoon “until the threat of Laura is clear.”
“We don’t believe this will be such a severe storm that we will have to ask visitors to evacuate,” Carruthers said.
County offices will be closed Monday. The airports in Marathon and Key West are expected to remain open, but that could change Sunday, according to Livengood’s announcement.
Hospitals are likely to stay open, but elective procedures may be rescheduled.
By Friday, it was still too early to tell what Laura would look like by the time it is expected to reach South Florida. But Shannon Weiner, director of Monroe’s Emergency Management, said residents should be prepared for Category 1 hurricane winds and strong squalls.
“Please secure all boats and outside items over the weekend for the event,” Weiner said in a statement.
“At this point, we’re doing the right thing right now,” Carruthers said.
Courts in Florida’s Sixteenth Judicial Circuit in the Keys will be closed Monday due to the storm, a spokesman for the Florida Supreme Court said Friday afternoon.
The city of Key West on Friday said it would cancel bus service on Sunday and Monday with a tentative plan to resume it on Tuesday. “All bus service will end after the last route on Saturday,” said spokeswoman Alyson Crean.
Also, the city will close its parking garage on Grinnell Street and the parking lot at Angela and Simonton streets at the end of the day Friday.
The Key West Cemetery will be closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
All city playgrounds will be closed on Monday.
“Residents are urged to keep a close eye on the Hurricane Center’s updates while preparing your property,” Crean said.
