Shelters popping up as evacuees flee Hurricane Matthew

Middle Georgia will offer several places to stay for people who are evacuating as Hurricane Matthew barrels toward the Southeast.

Shelters will be available throughout the region as more than a million people are expected to evacuate the Georgia coast, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. While forecasts show Middle Georgia escaping the storm, local agencies are preparing for an influx of evacuees, racing ahead of the storm’s approach to Florida on Thursday night. Westbound lanes of Interstate 16 in Bibb County had heavy traffic late Wednesday afternoon, another indication that people were in the area seeking refuge.

In response to evacuees, the American Red Cross is opening shelters in Macon and, if needed, in Laurens County. On Wednesday night, the agency opened a shelter at the Hephzibah Children's Home, 6601 Zebulon Road, and another shelter at North Macon Park Community Center is scheduled to open Thursday. All recreational activities at the 815 N. Macon Drive park will be postponed until further notice.

Meals and snacks will be provided at the shelters, but it is also critical that people bring enough medicine to last an extended period of time, said Connie Hensler, executive director of the American Red Cross Central Midwest Georgia chapter.

“We encourage them to bring blankets, pillows and other comfort items,” Hensler said. “We have the cots but don’t have all the luxuries of staying in a hotel.”

The Red Cross was opening a shelter in Fort Valley on Wednesday night at Peach County Fire Station No. 6, 1770 U.S. 341.

Three high schools in Laurens County could become shelters if needed as the Red Cross continues to monitor the situation. The number of people flowing into the county could increase if mandatory evacuations are issued for parts of Georgia, said Adelaide Kirk, executive director of the Red Cross chapter for West Central Georgia.

Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency for 13 Georgia counties along the coast.

The storm could bring flooding and strong winds along the coast of Georgia. The hurricane, which reached speeds in excess of 100 mph, caused destruction in the Caribbean this week, including in Haiti, where at least five people were killed.

Locally, the Twiggs County school district is ready to help if people need somewhere to stay. School officials will be notified by the Twiggs County Emergency Management Agency on Friday if shelter is needed for the weekend. The elementary school gym can hold about 200 people, and the high school could be available for any overflow, said Tyrone Bacon, the system’s chief operating officer.

“We do have our folks on standby in food service if we need to prepare meals, and our custodial staff will be on standby as well,” he said.

Also in Twiggs, a plea was made on Facebook for people to stock up with food in case more evacuees than expected come to the county.

“Now might be a good time to stock up on food we could cook in bulk (hot dogs and hamburgers, spaghetti, soup, etc.) just in case we as a community need to help out a group of evacuees,” Judy Sherling, executive director of the Development Authority of the city of Jeffersonville and of Twiggs County, posted on Facebook.

Some evacuees had already found their way to Middle Georgia by Wednesday, and many more are expected to stay at hotels through the weekend.

Rooms are booked Friday and Saturday nights at Quality Inns and Suites on Riverside Parkway in Macon as evacuees come to the area. At Hampton Inn and Suites, 3954 River Place Drive, there was a mixture of the normal weekend guests plus evacuees needing rooms.

And some restaurants, such as Cracker Barrel in Macon, already had customers who were escaping the storm on Wednesday.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 7:15 PM with the headline "Shelters popping up as evacuees flee Hurricane Matthew."