PERRY, Fla. — The Taylor County Sheriff is issuing a grim warning to residents who have chosen to ignore evacuation orders and wait out Hurricane Helen at home: tag yourself with your information so authorities can identify you later.
Taylor County expects to be directly impacted by the Category 4 storm, which is expected to make landfall Thursday evening. Sheriff Wayne Padgett said the county would be “in the center of” the storm.
Taylor County in northern Florida, near the Big Bend region, has a population of 20,000, Padgett said.
Like other places in Florida, mandatory evacuations have been ordered in Taylor County, but Padgett estimates that nearly half of its population is choosing to stay put.
It’s too late now for them to change their minds and try to leave, said Padgett, who instead told them to “hunker down, stay put.” He also asked them to “take a black magic marker, write your name, your Social Security number, everything on your arm” so authorities could identify residents in a worst-case scenario.
“I don’t like to tell people, but it continues,” Padgett said, adding that residents in “low-lying areas” face “a death threat” from Helene.
“They’re calling for a storm surge of 18 or 20 feet. We’ve never had a storm surge like this in this county,” he said. “You can kind of hide from the wind, but you can’t hide from this water.”
Most of the people who chose not to evacuate are further inland and in less threatening situations than those along the coast, he said.
Helen is expected to be one of the largest storms to hit the Gulf Coast, with winds expected to reach up to 125 mph. Tornado warnings were also issued in the storm area.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never been worried about a storm. I’m worried about this storm,” Padgett said.
He said he was so concerned that he thought it was safer for residents to go to shelters in other counties. Taylor County has not opened a shelter because it is in the direct path of the storm, he said, and officials are concerned that people in the shelter could be in a dangerous situation.
Uber offered to take Taylor County residents to shelters outside the county, Padgett said.
“All state agencies are here to help us get through this storm that we’re going to be directly impacted by,” Padgett said. He said power generation crews are lined up waiting for the storm to pass and food trucks are available for those who need them.
“We have everything prepared,” Padgett said, adding that it’s a “big waiting game right now.”
Helene is the third major storm in a year for Taylor County, Padgett said, “But we’re going to endure. We’re going to get better. Just sit back and hang in there.”
