This post was updated at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
As Central Florida braces for the impact of Hurricane Ian, local leaders are issuing advisories and updating public safety information. Hurricane winds and flooding are expected in parts of Orange County beginning Wednesday afternoon and continuing into Thursday.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina, during an 11:30 a.m. news conference, issued a guidance for residents to stay off roads starting at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The guidance is not a curfew, and was issued as a matter of public safety and to allow essential personell to respond to emergencies.
According to a statement from the City of Winter Park, the City Emergency Operations Center was at Level 2 (partial activation) as of Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 27. The system will transition to Level 1 (full activation) on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 9 a.m. All city departments are fully staffed with additional crews on stand-by to assist in preparation, recovery and restoration efforts.
City Hall and all administrative offices will be closed Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 28-29. The Sept. 28 City Commission meeting has been rescheduled for Oct. 6 at 5 p.m., and all advisory board meetings scheduled between Sept. 28-30 have been canceled.
There will be no yard waste, garbage or recycling pickups for the rest of the week. All pickups will resume next week. Please note that items placed outdoors can become dangerous projectiles. Store your items in a safe place until your next regularly scheduled pick up.
The Winter Park Chamber of Commerce is updating information on business closures and operations on its Instagram account.
To report power outages, call 1-877-811-8700, for water and wastewater utilities outages, call 407-599-3219.
The list of official city resources is as follows:
- Official Hurricane Guide – cityofwinterpark.org/emergency
- citEnews email service – cityofwinterpark.org/citEnews
- Facebook – facebook.com/WinterParkEmergencyInfo
- Twitter – twitter.com/WinterParkFla
- Nextdoor – sign up at nextdoor.com
- City’s emergency alert system – sign up at cityofwinterpark.org/outreach.
Other resources include:
- Non-emergency information line 407-599-3494 (live upon EOC activation)
- MessageCenter@cityofwinterpark.org (live upon EOC activation)
- Electric utility power outages 1-877-811-8700
- Water & wastewater utilities outages 407-599-3219
All city parks and outdoor venues will close at sundown on Tuesday, Sept. 27 and remain closed through Thursday, Sept. 29. Indoor recreation facilities will close at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27 and remain closed through Thursday, Sept. 29. The Get Hooked Family Fishing Event, originally scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 1 at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, has been canceled.
Rollins College will close its campus and residential halls at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Facilities will remain closed through Friday for damage assessment.
Orange County Public Schools and facilities will be closed through Thursday, Sept. 29. All after-school extracurricular activities are also canceled through Thursday.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) suspended SunRail service beginning Tuesday, Sept. 27 with a tentative restart date of Friday, Sept. 30. When weather conditions normalize, inspections of the railway systems and safety tests will be conducted. Service will be reinstated after all safety standards are met. Check SunRail.com for updates.
Residents are asked to call 311 if special-needs sheltering or transportation is required. For more county information, please click here to access the Orange County Government emergency information page.