U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and locally elected officials urged south Floridians to obtain several days worth of food, water and medicine and finish fortifying their homes against Hurricane Irma by Friday evening, before strong winds are expected to arrive.
“Irma is now a Category 4, but make no mistake: we are in a serious situation with this very dangerous and damaging storm,” Broward Mayor Barbara Sharief said during a Friday morning news conference at the county’s emergency operations center in Plantation. “This storm is larger than any we have faced, including Andrew and Wilma."
“All your personal preparations should be complete by the time you go to bed tonight,” she said.
Sharief advised anyone planning to go to a county shelter to arrive by tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest. Once tropical storm force winds begin, shelters plan to close their doors for the duration of the event.
By late afternoon, nearly 9,000 people had filed into 14 Broward County shelters with a capacity of about 12,000. Seven are full: Coral Glades High School in Coral Springs, Pompano Beach High School in Pompano Beach, Plantation Elementary School in Plantation, Millennium Middle School in Tamarac, Watkins Elementary School and West Broward High School in Pembroke Pines and FoxTrail Elementary School in Davie.
The county opened four more shelters at 6 p.m. on Friday: Tradewinds Elementary School in Coconut Creek, Silver Park Elementary in Pembroke Pines, Beachside Montessori Village Elementary in Hollywood and Everglades Elementary in Weston.
Both of the pet-friendly shelters — Millennium Middle and Everglades High School in Miramar — are full or nearly at capacity. County officials said there was a “strong possibility” they would open a third to pets.
Read more: Do you Know Where The Nearest Hurricane Shelter Is? Here Is How To Find It
Officials said they will consider opening additional shelters, if necessary. Sharief said during the news conference all shelters, if opened, could accommodate a total of 33,000. But a county staff member later said the number is a moving target and did not provide clarity about the actual capacity of the shelters.
Rubio, a Cuban-American Republican who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016, stressed undocumented immigrants shouldn’t fear deportation if they seek shelter.
The senator said he has heard reports from south Miami-Dade County, Immokalee in Collier County and other parts of the state where there are large populations of agricultural workers that residents were reticent to ask for help for fear of consequences related to their immigration status.
He said officers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement might be present at the shelters to assist local law enforcement.
But "they’re not there to deport,” Rubio said. “They’re there to save lives and assist. So if you’re in trouble, don’t be afraid to call. You’re not going to get deported because you’re in a bad spot during or after a hurricane. That’s not going to happen, and we’ve made that abundantly clear.”
To those who are staying home: officials asked residents to make sure they’re in safe places by the time winds begin and not to leave until the storm has passed in its entirety, which could take more than a day. County Sheriff Scott Israel warned people to stay off the roads and hunker down in interior rooms without windows.
“As a county, let’s set a goal of no deaths,” Israel said. “Let’s practice the things we’ve learned.”
Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Miami-Dade and Broward counties, asked people to help their neighbors where possible.
She said she walked door-to-door in the Liberia neighborhood of Hollywood as well as in Dania Beach on Thursday, encountering people who didn’t have the resources to prepare.
“Make sure you do everything you can to prepare for your own family’s safety, but in the last hours before we all have to shut down, let’s look out for one another,” Wasserman Schultz said.
“The goal of having no deaths, the goal of having no injuries really can be met by making sure you check in on your neighbors,” she said.
