{"id":1851,"date":"2019-08-30T15:52:57","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T19:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=1851"},"modified":"2019-08-30T15:53:09","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T19:53:09","slug":"polk-state-will-be-closed-through-wednesday-due-to-hurricane-dorian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2019\/08\/30\/polk-state-will-be-closed-through-wednesday-due-to-hurricane-dorian\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk State will be closed through Wednesday due to Hurricane Dorian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/TRACKING-THE-STORM-NEWS-03-800x450.jpg?resize=800%2C450&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1852\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/TRACKING-THE-STORM-NEWS-03-800x450.jpg?resize=800%2C450&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/TRACKING-THE-STORM-NEWS-03-800x450.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/TRACKING-THE-STORM-NEWS-03-800x450.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Polk State College and its collegiate high schools will be closed Saturday, August 31, through Wednesday, September 4, due to Hurricane Dorian. The College will continue to provide updates regarding the storm, closure, and event schedules on polk.edu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Cameras for the Cause gallery reception will take place Friday, August 30, at 6 p.m. in the Winter Haven Fine Arts Gallery. Soccer scrimmage will also take place as scheduled at 10 a.m. Saturday on the Lakeland Campus. Volleyball\u2019s game against Miami Dade College that was scheduled for Friday night has been canceled as well as Polk State Softball\u2019s Family &amp; Alumni BBQ that was scheduled for Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As of 2 p.m. Friday, Hurricane Dorian is a Category 3 with sustained winds of 115 mph, according to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.noaa.gov\/\">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/a>&nbsp;(NOAA). The storm continues to move northwest at 10 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hurricane-force winds could reach Florida\u2019s east coast and peninsula early next week, although it is too soon to determine where the strongest winds will occur. Regardless of the exact track of Dorian, heavy rains are expected to occur over portions of Florida and the southeastern U.S. this weekend through the middle of next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Polk State urges students, faculty, staff, and families to be prepared for the storm, which could reach Central Florida by early Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Before the storm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is important to prepare.&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nws.noaa.gov\/om\/hurricane\/index.shtml\">The National Hurricane Center<\/a>&nbsp;recommends:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Water: At least 1 gallon of water per person and animal per day for at least three days<\/li><li>Food: At least a three-day supply of nonperishable food with a manual can opener to open canned foods<\/li><li>Radio: A battery-powered radio and extra batteries<\/li><li>Flashlight: With extra batteries<\/li><li>Cell phone: Make sure to have extra battery packs or a solar charger<\/li><li>Important documents: IDs and insurance policies should be protected<\/li><li>Prescription medications<\/li><li>First-aid kit<\/li><li>Cash<\/li><li>Gas in vehicle<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Polk State also encourages everyone to utilize&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.polk-county.net\/emergency-management\">Polk County Emergency Management<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.floridadisaster.org\/planprepare\/preparing-for-the-2019-hurricane-season\/\">Florida Division of Emergency Management\u2019s<\/a>emergency plans, contacts, evacuation routes, supply-kit checklists, and other resources to assist with preparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>During the storm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do not go outside, even during the eye of the storm. Continue to monitor news and weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>After the storm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Remember \u2013 many injuries and fatalities take place in the aftermath of a storm. Polk State employees should not return to the College unless requested by a supervisor. Students and employees should continue to check local media for reopening information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.redcross.org\/\">The American Red Cross<\/a>&nbsp;recommends:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Staying alert for extended rain and subsequent flooding<\/li><li>Driving only if necessary and avoiding flooded roads<\/li><li>Staying away from loose or dangling power lines and reporting them immediately to a power company<\/li><li>Listening to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nws.noaa.gov\/nwr\/\">NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR)<\/a>&nbsp;and local news for updates<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The College will also provide updates and available resources on polk.edu. Additionally,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uwcf.org\/about-2-1-1\/\">United Way\u2019s 211<\/a>&nbsp;is a comprehensive source of services, including emergency information and disaster relief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Polk State College and its collegiate high schools will be closed Saturday, August 31, through Wednesday, September 4, due to Hurricane Dorian. The College will continue to provide updates regarding&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"32","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polk-state-college-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}