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Letter to the editor

When storms approach, prepare to evacuate early

Planning is also key if you plan to go to a host home or special needs facility.

By NICOLE BARDO-COLON
Published July 22, 2007

When hurricane winds blow through neighborhoods in Pinellas County, residents should be prepared, especially those living in mobile homes.

High winds are the chief reason for evacuating mobile homes, said Tom Iovino, a hurricane specialist and spokesman for Pinellas County.

"The only reason we would order an evacuation is because of the concern of loss of life," he said. "We're trying to save lives."

But residents in mobile homes face a different set of challenges when the threat of a storm comes. Mobile homes have a much lower survival rate, especially older models. And residents have to get out at the earliest level of evacuation regardless of where they are in the county.

So what do they do?

Sitting on the front steps of his mobile home in a faded gray T-shirt smoking a cigarette, Kevin Olear contemplates the worst.

"I'd be dead and blowed away right over in the middle of Tampa Bay somewhere," said Olear, who has lived in Treasure Village Mobile Home Park for the past seven years.

"If it's going to blow away, it's going to blow away. You can't stop it," he said.

In the last serious storm, he refused to evacuate.

"I sat out here drinking beers," Olear said. "They can ask you to leave, but they cannot make you leave," he said.

A friend of Olear, who also lives in a mobile home, told him she went to a shelter at a nearby elementary school.

"She said there was trash everywhere, and it was hot, and there was no toilet paper in the bathroom," he said.

This atmosphere was not something Olear was eager to experience.

"Shelters are a last resort," Iovino said.

He said mobile home residents should try and find another place to go, but shelters are available.

"We don't want you out in the storm," he said.

What are some other options?

Chris Settle, another spokesman for Pinellas County Emergency Management, said the best plan for a storm is an early one.

He is working on a county program called Host Homes.

The program matches mobile home residents with churches or civic organizations in Pinellas County and provides them with a host home in the event of a storm.

The host participants must have homes in nonevacuation zones.

Ralph Skewes at Good Samaritan Church in Pinellas Park has started coordinating a Host Homes program for his church over the past couple of months.

"We've matched one pair up already," Skewes said. "Then we let them work out the details themselves."

He said they will coordinate rides and offer suggestions for hurricane supplies, and the church will try to make sure everyone has a plan.

Skewes, who lives in a mobile home himself, said his church originally wanted to make their fellowship hall a shelter.

They were informed by the county that it could be too dangerous and the Host Home program would be a better way to help. Right now the program is limited to members of the church.

"We're at the entry level right now," Skewes said.

Settle recommends having important documents or pictures in a safe place and ready to go if you live in a mobile home.

People with special needs should contact the fire department, nursing home, hospital or shelter to plan for transportation or other needs, Settle said.

He said the facilities can handle special needs in the event of a storm, but residents need to register early. Pet shelters are available but also require preregistration.

Having a plan in place is key, he said.

"Waiting 48 hours till a storm is the worst thing you could do," Settle said.

For more information on Host Homes or Pinellas County Emergency Management, call 727 464-3712 or (727) 464-3800.

Nicole Bardo-Colon can be reached at nbardo-colon@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 21, 2007, 23:49:47]