Century, Red Cross Can Use Closed Carver/Century School For Shelter

June 18, 2009

ccevac.jpgThe Escambia County School District has agreed to allow the American Red Cross to continue to use the old Carver/Century K-8 School as Century’s only public shelter.

The district closed the school at the end of the school year, and the future of the building as a shelter had become uncertain. But Mayor Freddie McCall said this week that Superintendent Malcolm Thomas had confirmed that the Red Cross would still be able to utilize the building.

Carver/Century K-8 School served as Century’s only public shelter, with a capacity to house  up to 547 people in the event of a hurricane or other emergency. The mayor said there are no other buildings in Century with a sufficient size and wind rating that could be used for a public hurricane shelter.

The next nearest Escambia County public hurricane shelters to Century are located at Northview High School and Molino Park Elementary. Northview has a hurricane shelter capacity of 1,260. Molino Park has space for 2,225 evacuees.

Molino Park is 20 miles from Century, and Northview is about nine miles away. Those distances would have presented a great problem for persons needing to evacuate from Century, McCall said, because many do not have adequate, dependable transportation.

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