Tampabay: County officials scramble to avert shelter shortage

Holy Trinity Greek Church, at 409 Old Coachman Road, said it would not be a county shelter this hurricane season, leaving the city without a place to house 500 people in the event of a big storm. The city and surrounding areas had already lacked shelter space for thousands of others.

It underscores an ongoing countywide problem: If a hurricane hits Pinellas County, more than half of those who might seek shelter will have no place to go, said David Bilodeau, the county director for emergency management.

"We have been working on this forever," Bilodeau said.

The county estimates that 125,000 people would seek shelter in one of the county's public evacuation centers during a Category 5 hurricane, which has winds greater than 155 mph. There now are about 57,000 spaces in shelters in the county. While Clearwater still has two shelters -- one in a portion of Kennedy Middle School and one at McMullen Booth Elementary -- Largo has one.

Dunedin has none.

Having only four shelters in that area is Bilodeau's biggest worry.

"We're making progress, but there's still a ways to go," he said.

Clearwater Fire Marshal Randy Hinder said he hoped that the county's help came in time.

"My fear is that if a significant storm occurs, we're going to have people coming from Dunedin and Largo pretty quickly," Hinder said. "What's going to happen when we have to turn people away?"

What makes things worse: Major sewer work at Largo Middle School has removed that building as an evacuation center this season. The county retrofitted Largo High School to hurricane standards, but the change will mean 3,500 fewer spaces for Largo residents if a hurricane hits, Bilodeau said.

The county is working to retrofit Bardmoor Elementary School in Largo. Bilodeau said the building might be ready to take in 1,400 people before the height of hurricane season, which is September and October.

For Dunedin, Bilodeau is waiting on the completion of a new middle school, which will be a shelter for more than 5,000 people. Unfortunately, that's 15 to 18 months away, he said.

Scott Magness, the Dunedin deputy fire chief, is directing residents to Palm Harbor's two shelters in the meantime. However, he said staying with friends and family remains the best option.

"The best solution is for as many people as possible to go to a nonevacuation zone to pair up with a family friend or relative," Magness said. "Yes, the middle school will hold a substantial number of people, but it's quite a ways off."

State law requires that all new schools meet hurricane safety standards, and the county is working to retrofit older schools as well. As new schools are built and older ones are better equipped, shelter space will grow, Bilodeau said. The county hopes to have enough space to meet demand in five years, he said.

But for now, the county has 18 schools and two churches doubling as shelters, and space is sparse.

Pinellas isn't alone. Few counties in Florida have enough room. Across the bay, Hillsborough County is even further behind. Officials there estimate that in a Category 3 storm (winds from 111 to 130 mph), they would have 92,500 people seeking shelter, while the county has room to shelter only 7,500.

By peak season, Hillsborough hopes to have an additional 17,500 spaces available by retrofitting county schools, said Steve Porter of Hillsborough's emergency management department.

"At the rate of growth and the way the School Board is building, we should be out of this shelter deficit in five years," Porter said.

Back in Clearwater, Holy Trinity church council president George Mantzaris would like to provide shelter again in the future. He said the church was unable to find doctors to help in the shelter.

If they find the people, they'd be back open, he said.

"We still want to keep it going," Mantzaris said. "We just want to find the people to do it."

The county is expanding its efforts to retrofit another section of Kennedy Middle School, which will make up for its lost spaces at the Old Coachman Road church.

Bilodeau said the church needed to provide only the building.

"If we needed doctors, there would be no shelters in the whole county," he said. "We're searching like I guess they are."