Residents Not Evacuating Hurricane Helene Told to ID Selves with Marker

A Florida sheriff’s office has asked residents who rejected evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Helene to mark their name and other pertinent information on their body with a permanent marker so they can be identified.

The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, in Florida’s Panhandle, posted the message to its Facebook account just before 1 p.m. EST Thursday. The storm is expected to make landfall on Florida’s northwest coast Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane.

“If you or someone you know chose not to evacuate, PLEASE write your Name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg in A PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified,” read the sheriff’s office post. The Associated Press reported that similar directives have been rolled out by officials during past hurricanes.

The sheriff’s office also asked that information regarding any residents who did not evacuate be sent to its office via email, including details about whether the resident is inland or on the coast, the person’s full address and the number of individuals and animals present at the person’s location.

“Please email this information to: TCEM@Taylorsheriff.org,” read the Facebook post. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

Newsweek reached out to the Taylor County’s Sheriff’s Office for additional comment Thursday night.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued before Thursday evening for several counties along Florida’s Gulf Coast, impacting the cities of Tallahassee, Gainesville, Cedar Key, Lake City, Tampa and Sarasota. The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office said that any residents who did evacuate are asked to “refrain from returning to the area until officially directed by the Emergency Operations Center.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an update at 10 p.m. EST Thursday that the “eyewall” of Helene was beginning to whip toward the Florida shore around the Big Bend region. Forecasters said that the storm “is producing catastrophic winds” likely to hammer the state’s shoreline in the next few hours.

“This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation,” the update read. “Persons should not leave their shelters and remain in place through the passage of these life-threatening conditions.”

According to data collected by the University of Florida Coastal Monitoring Program tower in Cedar Key, Helene was recently reported to be sustaining wind speeds of 59 mph and gusts of up to 78 mph, read the NHC update. The storm’s maximum sustained wind speed is 140 mph.

According to the site poweroutage.us, over 830,000 residences and businesses in Florida were without power as of 10:40 p.m. EST. Most have been reported in the counties of Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Levy and Taylor.

Hurricane and flash flood warnings also extended north into Georgia and North Carolina on Thursday. Per the NHC’s forecast, there is a high chance of excessive rainfall over the next three days from Florida’s coast near Tallahassee to the north through western parts of North Carolina. The risk of flash flooding could extend as far north as Ohio and Pennsylvania as Helene tears through.

Several states have declared a state of emergency ahead of Helene making landfall, and the Biden administration has urged Americans to heed warnings on the storm.

“People in Hurricane Helene’s path, you need to listen to your local officials if they tell you to evacuate,” Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said during a news briefing at the White House on Thursday. Criswell plans to travel to the region on Friday to assess the damage.

Update 09/26/24, 10:58 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and background.