Sarasota residents settle into place at Southside Elementary shelter

Hermes Callejas and Maria Espinosa live in a mobile home in Pinecraft, one of the areas to receive the most significant flooding during Hurricane Debby.

Their home lost its roof during that storm.

On Thursday, they were not taking any chances with Hurricane Helene and chose to stay in the evacuation center at Southside Elementary School.

The site is one of 12 evacuation centers operated by Sarasota County. 

"For me, it's such a beautiful surprise," said Espinosa, with the couple complimenting the different rooms of the shelter and the cleanliness of the facility. 

Photo by Ian Swaby

This year, the center, which opened Wednesday at noon, had a turnout of 36 as opposed to 16 during 2023's Hurricane Idalia, said Sara Kane, who is in charge of the center and is sustainability and resilience manager with Sarasota County.

"People are friendly, and happy they have a safe place to be, and we're happy to help our community in any way that we can," she said.

Photo by Ian Swaby

The center has about 16 county staff, she said, but also works in coordination with school district staff, including cafeteria staff. 

"It has been great," said Ron Silvani, who lives in a camper at the site of his employer, Speedy Mini Mart, in Sarasota. "They feed us three times a day. They had coffee and juice out all day for us, which I was like, 'Wow, that's pretty neat,' because I came with nothing here, like no blankets or nothing."

Photo by Ian Swaby

Callejas said although he and Espinosa had to leave belongings behind in their home, they were glad to be safe. 

"The stuff, we can work again and buy it again," Callejas said. "But if we're not okay, we're in trouble."