While the strongest impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt along the coast, inland areas won’t be unscathed - especially those that border the St. Johns River.
Clay County could be in for tropical storm force winds and hurricane force gusts, 6 to 8 inches of rain, and as much as 6 feet of storm surge along the river.
John Ward at the Emergency Operation Center said Monday afternoon that's why the county issued a mandatory evacuation for zones A, B, low lying areas and any vulnerable homes.
“We've been asked a lot as to why we did not execute this earlier. We work with our regional partners across the region and do it in a phased approach. A lot of our coastal counties have hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate within those zones, we have about 10,000 people that were evacuating, so it's just a little bit different on timing,” Ward said.
Related: Tracking Dorian And More Weather-Related News
Shelters in Clay County will start opening Tuesday and transportation is available for the elderly who need help getting there.
The list of shelter locations for the general population in Clay County is as follows:
- Clay High School, 2025 FL-16, Green Cove Springs
- Orange Park High School, 2300 Kingsley Ave., Orange Park (pet friendly)
- Keystone Heights Junior/Senior High, 900 Orchid Ave., Keystone Heights (pet friendly)
- Wilkinson Elementary, 4965 Co Rd. 218, Middleburg
All the shelters will open Tuesday, September 3, at 3 p.m.
A special needs evacuation shelter will be opening at noon on Tuesday, September 3, at Lake Asbury Junior High, 2851 Sandridge Road, Green Cove Springs.
To check your evacuation zone go to ClayCounty.gov.
Mandatory evacuations have also been issued for Duval, Nassau, St. Johns and Flagler County. For more information go to floridadisaster.org.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
