JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — City officials joined Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan in a couple of briefings today.
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The Mayor says wants everyone to keep their guard up as Hurricane Idalia is expected to be a major wind event. While it was a category 2 at the time of the briefing, Mayor Meegan says we need to prepare for every storm.
Memorial Park in Riverside is used to flooding during storms. It was underwater during Hurricane Irma and had intense flooding during Hurricane Nicole, and that was only a category one.
Now, officials are warning everyone to prepare for a major storm event, on Wednesday.
“We’re going to still get some bad conditions so you need to stay off the roads and stay out of the water,” Mayor Deegan said.
Jacksonville resident Richard Mitchell is heeding the warning. While he’s been through this before, he stocked up on hurricane supplies, including fueling up on gas.
“Don’t try to be a hero or heroine and just try to play it safe,” Mitchell said.
At Tuesday’s briefing, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan asked the public to prepare their homes, stay safe, and protect our emergency responders.
“I can’t say it often enough, we have very bad rip currents out there, please stay out of the water, there’s not going to be anybody out there to save you,” Mayor Deegan said. “And you do not want to put another resident in danger. So stay out of that water.”
Lifeguards are officially off duty until further notice. And JTA routes are shut down tomorrow. Those drivers will be assisting utility crews.
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JSO says they plan to have 200 officers on the street for extra manpower, Wednesday.
And there are now seven shelters open to the public.
JEA has been preparing for storms like Idalia, by upgrading electric, water, and sewer systems, and trimming trees.
“Our teams are as prepared as they can be for Idalia,” JEA President Jay Stowe said.
Stowe says to be prepared for widespread power outages. He says about 2,100 employees are ready to respond with 500 additional people coming from across the country to help restore power.
“Rest assured we will not stop working until all utility services are restored to our customers,” Stowe said.
Mayor Deegan says she plans to have updates on the storm on Wednesday afternoon and evening.
To report outages, visit jea.com/outage or call (904) 665-6000. Customers who have enrolled in outage alerts also can text “OUT” to MyJEA (69532) to report their outage.
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