Ahead of Tropical Storm Helene: School closures and evacuations

CHARLOTTE COUNTY

Schools

• Charlotte County Public Schools will be closed on Thursday, September 26, and Friday, September 27
• Kingsway Elementary will close at noon on Wednesday, September 25 to serve as a shelter for residents.
  After-school activities scheduled for Wednesday, September 25, are canceled, with the exception of on-campus daycare programs, which will remain open. A decision regarding Friday night high school activities will be made once more information on the potential impacts of the storm becomes available.

Evacuations & Shelters

• Evacuations have been ordered for barrier islands, low-lying and flood-prone areas, manufactured homes and any homes that may not withstand high winds such as those that may be comprised from previous storms.
• Shelters will open at 1 p.m., Wednesday at Harold Avenue Regional Park, 23400 Harold Ave., in Port Charlotte and Kingsway Elementary School, 23300 Quasar Blvd., in Port Charlotte.

Bus Service

• Charlotte County Transit Service will be closed for regular service on Wednesday and Thursday.
  Customers with reservations should get a notice on their phone.

Trash

• WM will suspend all commercial and residential trash, yard waste, and recycling collection services in Charlotte
  County on Thursday, September 26. Residential collection will be delayed one day the rest of the week; Thursday on
  Friday and Friday on Saturday.
  

COLLIER COUNTY

• You can collect sand, empty sandbags and shovels at two Collier County parks.
  Those items will be available on Tuesday, September 24th at 3p.m. and ending at dusk.
  Location:
  North Collier Regional Park
  15000 Livingston Road
  Naples, FL 34109 in the Sun-N-Fun Lagoon parking lot and at

  Donna Fiala Eagles Lakes Community Park
  11565 Tamiami Trail East
  Naples, FL. 34113
  

DESOTO COUNTY

• Desoto County Schools will be closed on Thursday, September 26th.

GLADES COUNTY

• Glades County Schools tells FOX 4 that there are no planned closures at this time.

HENDRY COUNTY

• The Hendry County School District will have an early dismissal on Wednesday. Students will get out of school at 11:15 am. The district says no lunch will be served.

LEE COUNTY

Schools

• The Lee County School District will be closed on Thursday, September 26, 2024. After school activities will end by 4pm on Wednesday, September 25th. All after school activity buses for Wednesday will be canceled. After Care will remain open until 6pm.
• The district says schools will be closed on Thursday. A decision about school on Friday will be made Thursday afternoon.
• Florida Gulf Coast University says they're closing campus to all activities, including all events and classes, starting at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, September 25. The university will remain closed through Thursday, September 26. A decision about Friday operations will be announced by 3 p.m. Thursday.
• Florida SouthWestern State College says classes and operations will transition to remote learning and work on Thursday, September 26, and Friday, September 27.

Sandbags

• You can find sandbag information here.

Trash

• Lee County will suspend residential garbage, yard waste and recycling collection on Thursday due to winds anticipated from the storm. • Regular household collections will be delayed by one day for the remainder of the week. Thursday’s collections will be picked up Friday, and Friday’s collections will be picked up Saturday. Collections will resume as normal on Monday, Sept. 30.

Bus Services

• LeeTran will not have any services on Thursday, Sept. 26, due to expected storm conditions.

Safe Havens

• Two Safe Havens will remain open tomorrow. They will be located at two county sites: North Fort Myers Recreation Center, 2000 North Recreation Park Way, North Fort Myers, FL, 22903 & Estero Recreation Center, 9200 Corkscrew Palms Blvd., Estero, FL, 33928
  

SARASOTA COUNTY

County leaders will send out an evacuation alert for Level A and manufactured home communities starting Wednesday, September 25th at 7.am. The city will be do the same and reminds Zone A residents that the evacuation is mandatory.

Evacuation Centers in Sarasota County will open at noon on Wednesday.