You do not need to evacuate to another state. you don t need to go hundreds of miles away. there are shelters that are open in all of these counties at this point. the important part is if you re under an evacuation order is evacuate to higher ground that is going to be safe from the type of surge and flooding that we are fearing with this storm. of course, there are certain floridians that may live in mobile homes or manufactured housing that would be vulnerable. if you re under an order, you want to be in a structure that will be able to withstand some of the hurricane winds. but by and large, we re looking at really, really major storm surge up and down the west coast of florida. there are people that, of course, are evacuating on different roadways. there has been traffic but there has not yet been the back-ups where fhp have opened the emergency shoulder lanes. they ll do that once sustained
At f .org that list them. we may add more if there is a need to do that as the storm impacts other parts of the state and we ll make that announcement at the appropriate time. we have 26 school districts with school closures. you may very well have more as the track becomes more certain. if you want the most updated school information, go to fldoe .org/storm info. we have 5,000 national guardsmen activated. 2,000 additional guardsmen from other state. jim has been talking with other states to help us with even more assets. we do have our urban search and rescue teams activated and three additional teams on stand by ready to deploy. the fwc has officers placed in every county in anticipation of heavy rains and flooding. and you will see heavy rains in
Catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge. if you are on florida s gulf coast from naples through the tampa bay area and counties north of that, that could be something that happens and will certainly happen in some parts of florida s gulf coast. i know there are folks in southwest florida who remember hurricane charley, was projected to make direct impact into tampa bay and then it turned and went into southwest florida. i would just say the track may end up doing something similar but this is a much different storm. charlie was smaller. it was a category 4, most of the damage from charlie was from wind and wind destruction. what we have here is really historic storm surge and flooding potential. so if you are looking at those places in fort myers, charlotte county, sarasota, the storm
People are starting to panic. it is crazy now. people are crazy, all the flights are insane. there is no flights. i would hope that everyone would think about evacuating if you do not have a place that s safe. we know it can turn at any second and take a different direction. not really where it s hit. it s more the storm surge. dana: we have our resources covering all angles of the storm. we begin the team fox hurricane coverage. bill: janice dean is on the storm path. a public information officer and let s start with fox weather correspondent live in tampa where the attention is now. good morning. good morning, bill and dana. florida attorney general ashley moody calling this the storm we all have feared focusing in on the threat of that storm surge. you mentioned 5 to 10.
Safety is paramount. when you are talking about storm surge like this and talking about historic flooding, that water is a very, very difficult adversary. you do not want to put yourself in harm s way unnecessarily. if you are ordered to evacuate that s a decision based off what we are seeing with this storm. what your local officials are seeing with the storm and the potential impact that could be on your part of the state of florida. doesn t mean you need to go across god s creation to evacuate. just get to the higher ground and get into a safe structure. we have shelters open in all those counties now at the county level and we would encourage people to do that. once the storm passes, you can be able to get back in your home and we ll be able assess whatever damage may have occurred and be able to make the necessary improvements and rebuild. but we can t unring the bell if you stay and you end up getting washed away with a historic