A Florida sheriff gave a grave warning to those residents who decided to stay in their homes instead of evacuating the area as the lethal Hurricane Helene hits the Southeast.
The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office posted the message on its official emergency services page on Facebook Thursday.
‘You can kind of hide from the wind, but you can’t hide from that water.’
“We are requesting that all residents, guests, and evacuees refrain from returning to the area until officially directed by the Emergency Operations Center,” the message read.
“If you or someone you know chose not to evacuate, PLEASE write your, Name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg in A PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified,” the message added.
Sheriff Wayne Padgett said the county would be in the “dead center” of the storm and estimated that about half of the population of the county decided to stay in their homes instead of evacuating the area. The county has about 20,000 residents.
Helene made landfall in Florida on Thursday evening as a powerful category 4 hurricane and knocked out power to millions of people in several states. Severe flooding has been recorded in many areas, and at least 22 people have reportedly died as a result of hurricane conditions.
“They’re calling for 18- or 20-foot storm surge. We’ve never had a storm surge like this in this county,” said Padgett. “You can kind of hide from the wind, but you can’t hide from that water.”
Police Chief Jamie Cruse said Friday he regretted not being more emphatic about the evacuation order.
“The only regret I have at this moment is we weren’t aggressive enough in the notification to tell people to evacuate the areas that were prone to flooding.”
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