People, dogs, cats, even a rodent are riding out Milton in Orange County shelters

Cars evacuating Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton. Image via AP.

It’s not just 1,500 people hunkering down in Orange County’s emergency shelters as Hurricane Milton nears. So are 68 dogs, 28 cats, one bird and a pet mouse.

“We are taking care of everybody, every animal even, within our community,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.

Demings and others gave an update as the rain began to fall harder in downtown Orlando. Central Florida is also under a threat of possible tornadoes as Hurricane Milton is hours from making landfall.

“What the National Weather Service is telling us is that we will likely continue to be under a tornado watch throughout the duration of the storm,” Demings said, urging people to be off the roads no later than 6 p.m. and in shelter for the night by 10 p.m.

Milton will approach Central Florida Wednesday night with sustained 45 to 65 mph winds and wind gusts up to 80 mph, Demings said.

“That means that there’s going to be some damage in our community. It means that we’re likely going to have some localized flooding again, but we’re prepared,” Demings said.

The bad weather should be gone by 6 p.m. on Thursday, Demings said.

Visit Orlando reported that the community’s 103,000 hotel rooms are 75% to 90% full.

Currently, the county’s shelters are 30% full, officials said.

“We intentionally created more shelter opportunities than we anticipated. … We want to make sure that there is enough shelter capacity to accommodate anyone that wants to come to one of our shelters,” Orange County Public Safety Director Danny Banks said.

Four of the shelters are operated by the Department of Health for people with special needs or who need electricity for their medical devices. Caregivers should accompany clients to the shelters. For help or to register, call 311, or 407-836-3111.

For people who need health care during the storm, AdventHealth is providing free urgent care visits by video through 8 p.m. Thursday.

“This service is 24/7 and accessible via the AdventHealth app. Just download the AdventHealth App on your mobile phone and use the code MILTON to bypass payment pages,” the hospital system said in a press release.