Hurricane Shelter Procedures and Recommendations

If mandatory evacuation is declared for the Tampa Bay Area:

1. The BEST thing to do is to find a neighbor or friend with a block house to stay with. If you live in a block home, consider calling someone in the church and inviting them over for the duration of the evacuation period. This is by far the best avenue for safety.

2. As a vastly inferior alternative, you are certainly welcome to come to the church. The new building, however, is NOT hurricane proof. It's just steel studs and drywall. Our fellowship hall, while a block building, has glass windows and doors on every wall and is not suitable for a shelter. The educational building also has windows all the way around, though the library, conference room and nursery are suitable for shelter. This building would certainly be better than staying in your mobile home, but we cannot guarantee your safety. The church is not designated as a hurricane shelter. The two designated shelters in Zephyrhills are Zephyrhills High School and Stewart Middle School. You will be safer at either of those buildings than at the church. But if you do not feel that you can go to these approved shelters, you will be better off at the church than remaining in your mobile home. So, we WANT you to come to the church. Please do NOT stay in your mobile home.

3. If you plan to stay at the church, you should bring your own bedding (pillows, blow-up mattress if you have one). Remember, you could be here until late at night, if not through the entire night. All we have are chairs, and it can get pretty uncomfortable sitting up all night long (though you can put a stack together and lie on them if you'd like). You should also bring your own food. If an evacuation order is in force we will fill all the big water containers at the church and every pitcher we can find, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring your own water. None of us knows how much we could be impacted or what the immediate might hold. We might need a lot more water than we think.

4. About animals... We certainly understand that you don't want to leave your animals behind. But here is where you will have to use some common sense. You could possibly be at the church, along with other people, for 12 hours! And you will not want to take your dog out to go to the bathroom if there are winds from 70-100 mph. So, please give careful consideration as to what you do with your dogs. Here are our requirements for animals: if you bring your small animal, it should be in a cage/carrier. We have two sturdy cat cages available at the parsonage, if you need to borrow one. We will probably put all the animals together in one of the classrooms so that if we have people who are allergic, they will not have to suffer. That will also help with some of the inevitable smell. If you have a cat, you should bring some kind of litter box, plastic bags for disposing of clumps, and food and water. You should also bring plastic bags for picking up droppings from dogs if you bring them (we don't want a mess outside, either). We will do our very best to accommodate your pets, but we have to be most concerned about PEOPLE.

5. The church will be unlocked several hours prior to any expected hurricane landfall. Please call ahead for the exact time. You are welcome to come at any time. There are 2 televisions in the education center and 2 VCRs. Feel free to bring along nice movies that would not be objectionable to Christians. You can bring games along, too. You should plan to bring a flashlight, batteries and a radio that runs on batteries if you have one.

6. We will check in with anyone at the church as often as we can during the day, until the storm hits full force. We will designate one of the people staying at the church to be in charge, and you will need to cooperate with that person regarding pets, when to move to more secure rooms, etc.

Please don't hesitate to call if you have any questions or concerns. We want all of you to be safe. Please do NOT stay in your mobile homes. Get to a shelter if you can. Come to the church if you have no better alternative. We will be praying for God's protection for our entire church and community.