Life and politics from the Sunshine State's best city

State of emergency extended for Pinellas

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

The Pinellas County Commission voted to extend the area’s state of emergency for another week during a special commission meeting Thursday.

The original declaration went into effect Sept. 7, a few days ahead of Hurricane Irma’s landfall in the Bay area, and was set to expire today before commissioners passed the extension during a morning meeting.

The extension bumps the expiration date to Sept. 21.

Though most county offices started reopening today and county parks and facilities are set to follow Saturday, there is still plenty of work to be done.

Many Pinellas residents are still living without power or other basic amenities, while others are forced to inch through traffic with the gas needle resting on “E” due to the storm-related fuel crunch that is just now starting ease up three days post-Irma.

The commission’s decision will keep Pinellas County’s emergency operations center active so it can continue supporting and coordinating disaster recovery efforts and get the area back to normal.

Area residents can see a list of open facilities, such as cooling stations, report storm-related property damage and find information on federal disaster relief programs on the front page of the county’s website.

Drew Wilson covers legislative campaigns and fundraising for SaintPetersBlog and FloridaPolitics.com. While at the University of Florida, Wilson was an editor at The Independent Florida Alligator and after graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to cover business deals for The Hollywood Reporter. Before joining Extensive Enterprises, Wilson covered the state economy and Legislature for LobbyTools.

Latest from The Bay and the 'Burg

Go to Top