The Citrus Connection will operate normally on Monday but starting Tuesday it will be transporting residents to special needs shelters
“We’re running full-service today and getting people into dialysis early and then starting tomorrow morning at 7, the special needs shelters are open,” said Tom Phillips, executive director for Citrus Connection. “So we’ll have probably around 30 routes.
“And then we’ll run very limited hurricane routes, which you can find on ridecitrus.com; fixed routes from the Lakeland and Winter Haven terminals to the regular shelters,” he said.
For their own convenience, Phillips said, most regular shelter people drive themselves.
“So 98% of our resources tomorrow, all day tomorrow – and Wednesday until it’s 45 mph winds – will be getting people to the three special needs shelters,” he said.
“There’s 795 eligible, preregistered folks who are eligible to go to these special needs shelters, Phillips said. “Typically, we take 30% to 40% of those, but every storm is different.”
Citrus Connection also does house checks before returning people from special needs shelters to make sure they have electric power and no damage to their residences.
Phillips said he expects to start bringing special needs people by Thursday morning after the storm passes.