Okeechobee County Closed Its Schools and Its County Offices for Monday — and Opened a Shelter at Seminole Elementary After 5 to 7 Inches of Rain
Communities around Lake Okeechobee took 5 to 7 inches of rain on Sunday. On Monday, Okeechobee County went further than closing classrooms: schools and county offices are shut for the day, and a shelter for residents stands open at Seminole Elementary School, as another 1 to 3 inches — 3 to 5 in the training bands — remains possible south of the I-4 corridor.
Around Lake Okeechobee, Sunday's rain was measured in half-feet. Communities near the lake were inundated with 5 to 7 inches of rainfall on Sunday, Florida Public Radio reports, as a developing storm system kept producing rounds of heavy rain across the peninsula. Okeechobee County's answer, announced for Monday, covers the whole of county life: officials closed the schools and the county offices for the day, and opened a shelter for residents at Seminole Elementary School — the step a county takes when the concern is not only getting to school, but staying in some homes at all.
'The safety of our students and staff remains our highest priority,' a school official said in the district's statement, as reported by Florida Public Radio. 'Our teams will continue monitoring school facilities and local roadways, and we will keep families informed of further updates. Any need for a makeup day will be addressed in the days ahead.' Much of the southern half of Florida remains under a Flood Watch, with the moisture expected to stay in place through at least early Tuesday, and the forecast offers Okeechobee no quick relief: an additional 1 to 3 inches is possible south of the Interstate 4 corridor, with isolated totals of 3 to 5 inches where thunderstorms train over the same ground.
Okeechobee is the second county in this storm to close its schools — Brevard, on the Space Coast, did the same this morning, in a file carried separately by this station — but the only one in the reporting read this cycle to close its government and open a shelter alongside. The relief, when it comes, is timed to the election: forecast models show most of the rainfall moving offshore by late Tuesday, Election Day, with the pattern turning less active toward the latter part of the week. Until then, the county around the lake is doing what flooded counties do — emptying its buildings of everyone except the people who need one.
