Lee County upgrading storm shelters in preparation for hurricane season

There are 137 days until hurricane season and Lee County is already working to save lives by fixing one of the big issues exposed when Hurricane Irma made landfall in 2017.

They are going to put in backup generators at the critical storm shelters, many of which are schools, then Alico Arena, Century Link, and JetBlue Park.

People rely on these shelters to be their second home in the time of need. Emergency services say most of the locations getting the generators will be schools, county facilities, and Alico Arena.

Director of Emergency Services, Lee Mayfield, says they have learned a lot since Irma. During the storm, many locations lost power, and they believe getting these will be a game changer.

“Things like powering the utilities in the building, maybe some air handling powering the kitchen when we do lose power during hurricane events… Again just adding a little bit more of creature comfort to the folks when we evacuate to the shelters,” Mayfield said.

The process of getting these will take some time, as it is coming from a federal grant, which the county says is a process.

They say they do not expect to have these installed before the next hurricane season.