Dyer: Storm’s path ‘directly over the city of Orlando’
Orlando officials are bracing for Category 1 hurricane conditions or a strong tropical storm, as Hurricane Ian barrels toward the Gulf Coast, and is expected to be in an around the city in the coming days.
“I want citizens to take this storm seriously and prepare,” Mayor Buddy Dyer said Tuesday, at a news conference at the city’s Emergency Operation Center. “The track of the storm has changed fairly significantly to the east, so it looks like the path is directly over the city of Orlando in a few days.”
Much of Orlando’s nonessential services will be closed from Wednesday through the end of the week, including commercial and residential garbage pickup and yard waste. Dyer said trash pickup may restart on Saturday at homes whose pickup was missed this week.
City residents should also not leave loose waste at their curbs ahead of the storm, as limbs, leaves and other materials could clog storm drains and lead to localized flooding.
The slow-moving hurricane is expected to douse much of the state with a deluge of rain, prompting flooding concerns. However, Dyer said within the city limits, that’d be atypical unless drains clog and create localized floods.
“We can have rain for 48 hours through the course of this storm, so there’s going to be a lot of water,” he said. “This is going to be a serious storm and we haven’t had one recently... so you know there’s a lot of trees that are going to lose limbs or come down.”
Orlando Utilities Commission customers can sign up for outage alerts by texting REG to 69682, or at OUC.com.
Four parking garages downtown will be available for the public to park vehicles out of the
the organization plans on opening the new space in 2024, transforming the newly inaugurated building into an affordable veterinary clinic for both dogs and cats.
“We want it to be a place where people can bring both dogs and cats for affordable veterinary care ... because that is something that we lost in the fire — our clinic,” Bardy said.
Shortly after the ribbon-cutting opening ceremony, Bardy said the cats at the facility would be removed and placed in their respective foster homes ahead of Hurricane Ian.
Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer attended the event and praised the growth of the organization since last year.
“I think the inspiring thing is how the community rallied to help take care of the pets and then to help rebuild, so this is a great day,” Dyer said.
Dyer also acknowledged the efforts of the organization to shelter the animals and addressed concerns about Ian’s potential impact in Central Florida.
“Get prepared and if you own animals, make sure that you have a plan for them as well because they’re probably going to need to be indoors for a considerable amount of time over the course of the next three days,” Dyer said.
Rodney Purvis, community outreach manager at Pet Alliance, said the fire had a long-lasting effect on employees, many of whom left the organization because they faced relocation, longer commutes and emotional distress.
“We all still deal with it daily, little things set you off, you know,” Purvis said.
Purvis said staff went from around 17 people to only six at the new shelter. Many of those who stayed have gotten tattoos to commemorate their loss.
Assistant Shelter Manager Kallie Wiese is one of the employees who decided to stay despite the difficulty of overcoming that night.
“I don’t think I am done with it, I am excited to see where things go, and we have a lot of opportunity here with the area that we’re in,” Wiese said. “We can help a lot of people, for me it’s just the excitement of where we can go from here.”
Wiese has a tattoo on her arm showcasing the number 2727, the address of the last shelter, inside an arrow and the date 9.15.21 with little paws to each side.
Peterson also has a tattoo to honor that day: A straight line that extends through her forearm featuring the coordinates of the last location, the date of the fire and half faces of a dog and a cat.
She said that after the fire scattered the shelter’s community, coming back together to start over has returned a sense of hope.
“We all just got dispersed, you know, being able to come back for the community, for us and the animals [has] been great,” Peterson said.