Monroe County Office of Emergency Management
Hurricane Ike update - 10 a.m., September 6, 2008
Visitor evacuations are underway and the official Resident evacuation begins Sunday morning. The Monroe County office of Emergency Management strongly urges everyone to leave the Keys prior to the arrival of Hurricane Ike.
"Everyone should be securing their property, and making their preparations to leave," said Emergency Management Director Irene Toner. "Ike is a serious threat to us all here in Monroe County and everyone needs to pay very close attention to our protective action orders."
As people make their preparations, they should NOT put garbage cans at the curb for pickup. Trash pickup county wide will stop as of Monday morning.
Most county and city offices plan to be closed Monday and Tuesday. Hospital emergency rooms will be closed for the storm as well.
"We want everyone in the Keys to evacuate as soon as possible," said Sheriff Rick Roth. "If you choose not to leave you need to be aware that emergency services may very well not be available to you if you need it."
During the evacuation, Sheriff Roth plans to deploy extra law enforcement officers throughout the island chain to make sure traffic flows as smoothly as possible.
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