Hillsborough County Issues Voluntary Evacuation Ahead Of Hurricane Irma

BRANDON, FL — Hillsborough County intends to issue a voluntary evacuation order for residents with special needs and those in low-lying areas starting Friday morning. The county announced the decision Thursday evening as Hurricane Irma continued on a collision course with the Sunshine State. The Category 5 storm is expected to reach Florida by Sunday.

Hillsborough County’s voluntary evacuation order affects residents in Evacuation Zone A, starting at 8 a.m. Sept. 8. That zone includes coastal areas and low-lying areas. Special needs residents are also strongly urged to evacuate. Residents who do not know their evacuation zones, can check on the county’s website. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Brandon Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Watch: New Track Has Irma Directly Hitting South Florida

To help those with special needs, the county plans to open two special-needs shelters at 8 a.m. Friday. They are located at:

• Strawberry Crest High, 4691 Gallagher Road, Dover
• The USF SunDome, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa

Special-needs shelters are strictly for residents with medical issues that “require electricity assistance or cognitive issues that would not be supported in a general population shelter,” the county wrote in an email to media.

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The county also plans to open 14 general shelters at 8 a.m. on Friday. These shelters are for evacuees from Zone A whose homes are vulnerable to wind damage. Shelters may also serve residents from other counties in need of a safe haven from the storm. The shelters opening are:

• Middleton High School, 4801 N. 22nd St. in Tampa
• Simmons Career Center, 1202 W. Grant St. in Plant City
• Shields Middle School, 15732 Beth Shields Ways in Ruskin (Pet-Friendly)
• Pizzo Elementary School, 11701 Bull Run in Tampa
• Cypress Creek Elementary School, 400 19th Ave. N.E. in Ruskin
• Hammond Elementary School, 8008 N. Mobley Road in Odessa
• Sessums Elementary School, 11525 Ramble Creek Drive in Tampa
• Bartels Middle School, 9020 Imperial Oak Blvd. in Tampa (Pet-Friendly)
• Brandon High School, 1101 Victoria St. in Brandon
• Smith, Sgt. Paul Middle School, 14303 Citrus Pointe Drive in Tampa (Pet-Friendly)
• Burnett Middle School, 1010 N Kingsway Road in Seffner (Pet-Friendly)
• Valrico Elementary School, 609 South Miller Road in Valrico
• Summerfield Crossings Elementary School, 11050 Fairway Meadow Road in Valrico
• Greco Middle School, 6925 E. Fowler Ave. in Temple Terrace

Hillsborough County plans to close its offices on Friday and Monday in light of the storm.

By 5 p.m. Thursday, Irma was located about 40 miles south of Grand Turk Island. The Category 5 storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 175 mph while moving west-northwest at 16 mph.

• Also see: Hurricane Irma: Track Shifts West With Tampa Bay In Cone

On its current projected path, Hurricane Irma is expected to pass by Cuba on Friday and Saturday with the potential for landfall in south Florida on Sunday. As of the National Hurricane Center’s 5 p.m. Sept. 7 update, almost the entire peninsula of Florida remained in the storm’s possible path.

Hurricane-force winds extended out from Irma by 70 miles Thursday. Tropical storm-force winds extended out 185 miles. Forecasters say, “some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Irma is forecast to remain a powerful Category 4 or 5 hurricane during the next couple of days.” The storm has been blamed for at least 10 deaths in the Caribbean.

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