Highlands County’s Emergency Management office now is at a Level 2, in anticipation of Tropical Storm Nichole. Latest models now show the center of the storm passing directly over Highlands County.
The Special Needs Shelter opened at noon today at the Highlands County Health Department. The Public Shelter will open at 4:00 – that will be at the Fred Wild Elementary School in Sebring.
Highlands County Commissioners declared a state of emergency at a special meeting yesterday. Officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency closed their local office yesterday. They’ll be shut down until the storm passes.
Highlands, Hardee and Polk counties remain under a Tropical Storm Warning. The Highlands County Call Center has been activated at 402-6800.
The memory of Ian still is fresh in the minds of Hardee County residents there. They opening shelters there this morning at 10am.
The pet friendly shelter will be at the Bowling Green Elementary School. The Hardee Special Needs Shelter will be at South Florida State College in Wauchula with the General Population shelter to be located at Hardee Junior High.
This year’s elections are in the book – and just as in the rest of the Sunshine State, the Republicans rolled. Highlands County commissioner Arlene Tuck retained her seat, grabbing better than 72-percent of the vote.
In Avon Park, Mayor Garrett Anderson will be going back on the dais after getting better than two-thirds of the electorate there. Councilman Jim Barnard also won, scoring nearly 60-percent of the vote.
Residents in the City of Charm also approved a couple of ballot issues. One imposes term limits on council members, the other extends their terms of office from three to four years. That will put Avon Park on the same schedule as national elections.
Voting yesterday was brisk. Nearly 58-percent of the electorate turned out for this year – most of them for in-person balloting.