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As Irma Swings West, Officials Scramble to Open Shelters - The New York Times

posted onSeptember 10, 2017
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Article snippet: NAPLES, Fla. — Pedro Cruz, a maintenance worker at Temple Shalom, was already taking shelter there with his family when he got a call from his supervisor on Saturday afternoon. Situated east of Interstate 75, the temple was a safe distance from the potential storm surge of Hurricane Irma. The supervisor told Mr. Cruz to expect visitors. The temple’s multipurpose room would be temporarily housing up to 150 people, and by early evening they were arriving. About 50 people were scattered around the room, sitting on the institutional brown carpet beneath ballroom chandeliers and sprawling on blankets. One evacuee brought lawn furniture, another a deluxe air mattress. Bags of food and water were everywhere. “Cheez-Its and pretzels,” Nancy Knauer, a retiree, said when asked what food she brought. The chaos could be explained by the events of the previous 36 hours. In that time, residents of southwest Florida went from worried observers of Irma to its primary target for destruction. The slight westward shift in the storm’s trajectory prompted a flurry of last-minute evacuation orders in counties like Collier — where the temple is — leaving little time for residents to pack up and find refuge. Temple Shalom was opened to evacuees just Saturday night. It had been set up in such a hurry that there were no supplies — not even an emergency coordinator. Several shelters had opened rapidly in the days and hours before and reached their capacity just as quickly. Ms. Knauer, who ... Link to the full article to read more

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