Zeta Update #3 - No evacuations;
county to open shelter at Milton Community Center

Oct. 27, 2 p.m. - Santa Rosa County is under a tropical storm warning and surge warning. The National Weather Service of Mobile is forecasting Zeta to impact Santa Rosa County beginning Wednesday evening with occasional gusts of tropical storm force winds, storm surge of two to four feet, rain, and possible tornadoes. Conditions are projected to improve rapidly early Thursday morning. 

• There are currently no evacuation orders, however the county will open a shelter on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Milton Community Center, 5629 Byrom St., for those who do not feel safe in their homes. The shelter will be a general population/special needs/pet friendly facility and will close at 7 a.m. Thurs. Residents utilizing the shelter will need to provide their own bedding - cots will not be available.
• All county offices will be open for regular hours Wed. and Thurs.
• Santa Rosa County Schools will be open Wed. and Thurs. If there are any unexpected changes at the 5 p.m. briefing, the school district will notify parents immediately. All Wednesday evening extracurricular activities will be canceled or rescheduled.
• The First Judicial Circuit courts in Santa Rosa County will close at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Court officials will continue to monitor the situation as it develops and will announce any closures for Thursday as soon as possible.
• The county contracted debris hauler is operating sunup to sundown and pickup should not be impacted.
• The COVID testing locations at Milton Community Center will be open as usual on Wed. and Fri., 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The COVID testing location at St. Sylvester's Catholic Church will be open Thurs. from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., then the south end testing site will relocate to Tiger Point Community Center beginning Thurs., Nov. 5 through the end of the year.
• FEMA's Mobile Registration Intake Centers will be closed Wed. in preparation for the storm. No post-storm reopening date or time has been set.
• The county's emergency operations center will activate at Level II for Zeta at 8 a.m. Wed. along with the citizens information center lines, 850-983-INFO (4636).

• Hurricane Sally left an estimated 1,050,000 cubic yards of debris to collect. With 5,000 roads in the county, pickup is expected to take 90 days. Check the status of debris collection at https://bit.ly/3msUPaj.
• Residents may take vegetative debris to the Central Landfill, 6337 Da Lisa Rd. in Milton, at no cost Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Crews have been collecting debris throughout the county sunup to sundown, seven days a week since Sept. 24 barring any inclement weather.
• It is expected to take a total of five weeks to finish the first pass and there will be multiple passes. Residents will be notified before the second and then final pass so sign up for news updates at www.santarosa.fl.gov.
• Notify the county of any debris blocking drainage infrastructure or roads through the citizen work request form at www.santarosa.fl.gov.