Hurricane Irma: Miami Area’s Best Evacuation Routes

MIAMI, FL — As Hurricane Irma continues to threaten South Florida, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez ordered mandatory evacuations for some 146,000 residents living in beach communities and flood-prone areas beginning on Thursday. Meanwhile, nearby Broward County also ordered evacuations for people living east of Federal Highway effective on Thursday. Mandatory evacuations also began in the Florida keys on Wednesday.

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Miami-Dade County opened four evacuation shelters on Wednesday that can accommodate 8,000 people and planned to open another four shelters on Thursday morning.

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Meanwhile, nearby Broward County issued mandatory evacuations for residents who live east of Federal Highway effective at noon on Thursday. Evacuations also started on Wednesday morning for visitors to Monroe County and residents later in the day.

Miami-Dade County announced that county offices would be closed on Thursday and Friday ahead of the storm. People with special needs were to start evacuating from Miami on Wednesday morning.

"This is a powerful storm which poses a serious threat to our area. We will be taking some extraordinary actions to assure that the residents of Miami-Dade County are safe," Gimenez said. "I would rather inconvenience our residents on this occasion than suffer any unnecessary loss of life if in fact we are hit by Hurricane Irma."

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Addressing reporters shortly on Tuesday, Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine urged his residents to make plans to leave ahead of the mandatory evacuation order. He said that all events on Miami Beach, including a car show, have been canceled ahead of the storm.

"There is no way to fully insulate yourself from a hurricane, let alone the most powerful hurricane in the history of the Atlantic," Levine said.

While the city has recently installed a series of massive pumps and even raised roads in some places, Levine said that the equipment is no match for such a massive storm.

"They are not designed in any way for a hurricane. We hope that that they will drain water out faster," he said. "We have all types of portable generators in place. We have portable pumps we've put all over the city."

Gimenez urged people visiting the Miami area to consider cutting short their stays and head home earlier than planned. Miami-Dade County officials have advised residents in low-lying areas to start evacuating on Wednesday.

In the Florida Keys, Monroe County began a mandatory visitor evacuation at sunrise on Wednesday and a mandatory evacuation for residents on Wednesday night.

Here is information relating to evacuations in Miami-Dade County:

The Office of Emergency Management partners with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the American Red Cross (ARC) to operate Evacuation Centers (EC). These ECs provide refuges of last resort for those individuals who need to evacuate and are unable to make their own evacuation and sheltering arrangements, such as with friends, family, or in hotels outside of the evacuation zones, according to county officials.

"During evacuations, Miami-Dade County also offers Pet Friendly Evacuation Centers for residents living in evacuation areas, unsafe structures or mobile homes," officials said. "A family member must stay with the pet. For more information, call 311 or visit Animal Services Department's page on disaster preparedness for pets."

• Hurricane Evacuation Centers

Photo of Mayor Carlos Gimenez courtesy Miami-Dade County