Ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall along the Florida Gulf Coast and mass evacuations, school districts across the state have been preparing for the so-called “storm of the century.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says Milton is a “dangerous major hurricane” that was expected to make landfall Wednesday evening. Earlier Wednesday, NOAA said Milton was a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of about 145 mph. The massive storm is projected to cut across the Florida peninsula and remain a hurricane until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. A storm surge of 15 feet or greater is expected all along the Florida Gulf Coast, with the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers areas especially impacted.
Many areas along the Gulf Coast are still recovering from Hurricane Helene that hit a week ago.
On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted that even if Milton weakens before making landfall, it “will be a major hurricane with catastrophic impacts on our state … Time is running out …”
While many Florida residents evacuated out of state, DeSantis advised that even evacuations of 10 miles away from the coast can help residents avoid the deadly storm surge. He said everyone should be prepared for widespread power outages. Florida also has over 50,000 electrical linemen “and all the necessary equipment staged just outside of Milton’s path.”
School Transportation News reached out to several school districts to gauge how they were preparing for Milton. Orange County Public Schools serving the Orlando area was the only one to respond at this report.
While Orlando is normally a destination for residents seeking shelter from hurricanes, as most reduce to a tropical storm by the time they get there, Milton is expected to also cause tornados in addition to torrential rain and flooding. William Wen, the senior director of transportation services for Orange County Public Schools, told STN on Tuesday that staff begins topping of school bus fuel tanks 24 hours out from a storm’s arrival.
“When we shut down, all buses will nearly be full and our fuel suppliers can top off our tanks at our fuel islands at six locations,” he said. “With the buses full and fueling stations at capacity, we can operate for about 1 week without needing another fuel delivery, if needed. It’s important to be ready to support schools to reopen for students as soon as it is safe after a storm event.”
The transportation department is also part of the District Incident Management Team, which is led by the OCPS Safety and Emergency Management (SEM) department. Leaders from all district departments make up the team.
“When a storm is approaching, regular virtual meetings are set up for storm updates, to review what each department is doing in preparation of the storm, how we can support each other, and to review plans for recovery,” Wen explained.
The district’s SEM Department communicates closely with the local and state offices of emergency management, Wen continued. The SEM department assigns staff to the local county emergency operations center as the district provides schools for shelters as needed.
“Transportation services serves as the back up to the local transit authority for mass evacuations,” he added. “At the start of each school year, we gather a list of school bus drivers that are willing to help during an emergency for us to call when needed.”
The Washington Post reported that Milton could be Florida’s largest evacuation since Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Wen noted that all OCPS transportation sites are located above flood zones, so the devastation that coastal districts can sustain is usually not the case in Orlando. “We are anticipating tropical storm sustained winds up to 65 mph and hurricane level wind gusts up to 75 to 90 mph from Milton,” he said.
Transportation staff also remove anything from parking lots and facilities that can blow away, and older buses are parked around the buildings to block major debris from hitting windows and doors, he explained. The buses are parked together with passenger doors facing inward to minimize winds from blowing them open. Stop arms are secured to prevent them from being blown out.
“Once all the buses are back from the last runs, we park the older buses to circle around the rest to protect them from wind and debris damage,” Wen shared.
After a storm passes, “when it’s safe to venture out,” Wen said, area transportation managers visit their services areas to determine if roads are flooded or blocked by debris. They report to the senior transportation staff member assigned to the OCPS emergency coordination center the areas that need attention for debris removal and traffic signal repairs.
OCPS is closed Wednesday through Friday due to the storm and will reopen on Tuesday after an already scheduled student holiday-teacher workday on Monday. The Florida Department of Education said 46 county school districts are closed Wednesday, 45 on Thursday, and 29 on Friday.
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