We feel very fortunate that our city did not sustain as much damage as other communities. It seems that localized flooding and, of course, power outages seem to be the worst of it for most.
As such, a crew from the DeLand Fire Department is assisting with high-water rescues in New Smyrna Beach. A DeLand Fire strike team is also being sent to Southwest Florida to assist in rescue/recovery efforts.
๐๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐ฌ
Several thousand people remain without power in the City of DeLand. Duke Energy has told us they hope to have ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ง๐ญ of DeLand customers back online by Saturday night. For some, it could be longer, it just depends on how badly the infrastructure was damaged. Duke's outage map may be viewed here: https://outagemaps.duke-energy.com/#/current-outages/fl
Our official damage assessment determined only 26 structures within the City of DeLand were affected or sustained cosmetic damage, 13 sustained minor damage and 6 sustained major damage.
GFL will be servicing Friday customers tomorrow (Saturday). Trash only will be picked up. Normal service will resume on Monday.
๐๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐๐ค๐ฎ๐ฉ
We have been coordinating with our debris hauler, DRC, to schedule the first pass for storm debris pickup. The first pass will occur on ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฒ, ๐๐๐ญ๐จ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐.
Please place all vegetative storm debris on the curb without blocking the road and keep it separate from any other debris such as demolition debris. It does not need to be bagged.
The city's drinking water remains safe to drink. Our water plant has remained operational this entire time. Some customers have alerted us to discolored water. This is likely due to sedimentation and can usually be fixed by flushing the lines by running an outside spigot and inside faucets for 15-20 minutes.
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Many of the city's lift stations are running on generator power. Please try to limit flushing your toilets to avoid overwhelming the city's wastewater system.
๐๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐
Open burning of any kind is not allowed with the City of DeLand city limits. Please be considerate of others as many without power have their windows open to cool their homes.
Citizen Information Center
The city's Citizen Information Center is now closed.
The City of DeLand has implemented Alert DeLand, an emergency public notification system. The program allows the city to contact the entire community or to target specific areas in case of an emergency or for urgent situations that require the public's immediate attention such as natural disasters (hurricane or tornado warnings), road closures, missing person cases, and more.
Users can choose how they want to receive alerts. You can choose to receive alerts on your home or business phone, mobile phone, email, text messages, or more based on your settings.
Important Links
City of DeLand residents and visitors are encouraged to follow us on social media for up-to-date information on current events:
City of DeLand and Volusia County residents and visitors are encouraged to follow Volusia County Emergency Management on Facebook and Twitter @VCEmergencyInfo. Storm information is posted to www.volusia.org/pin.
GFL will be servicing Friday customers tomorrow (Saturday). Trash only will be picked up. Normal service will resume on Monday.
Shelters
Volusia County Schools and Volusia County Government will open four shelters at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28.
General population shelters are:
•Mainland High School, 1255 W. International Speedway Blvd., Daytona Beach
•DeLand High School, 800 N. Hill Ave., DeLand
Special needs shelters are:
•Atlantic High School, 1259 Reed Canal Road, Port Orange
•Galaxy Middle School, 2400 Eustace Ave., Deltona
All four shelters will accept pets. Those staying at a shelter with their pets must bring necessary pet items and supplies.
Shelters should be used only as a last resort because the shelters do not provide luxury accommodations.
Evacuees may need to stay at a shelter for 24 to 72 hours during an emergency. Since space is limited, only take essential items. Avoid bringing valuables; shelters are not responsible for lost or stolen items. Necessary items include:
•Special dietary food, snacks or comfort food, water or other non-alcoholic beverages
•Bedding: pillow, blanket, etc. - general population shelters do not provide cots, so a comfortable beach chair and sleeping pad are recommended
•Ear plugs
•Extra clothing
•Medications and medical supplies
•Oxygen supplies or arrange with your oxygen company to deliver to the designated special needs oxygen shelter
•Toiletry items
•Flashlight and batteries
•Diapers, infant and elderly/disabled necessities
•Time occupiers such as books, magazines, games or cards
Special needs shelters
Hospitals are not shelters.
Special needs shelters are not for isolation patients or people who need 24-hour dedicated care, a hospital bed, ventilator and other complex care. These individuals should discuss other shelter arrangements with their physician or home health service provider or caregiver.
Only one caregiver will be admitted for each patient.
Curfews
Volusia County is no longer under curfew.
Closures
•Volusia County parks will be closed Wednesday and Thursday.
•Volusia County Clerk of the Court offices will be closed Wednesday through Friday.
•Lyonia Environmental Center will be closed Wednesday and Thursday.
•The New Smyrna Museum of History is closed through Oct. 1.
Debris Removal
Debris removal will start on Monday, October 10. Please keep vegetative debris and construction/demolition material separate and place it on the curb. it should not be bagged.
Volusia County Citizen Information Center
Residents may call 866-345-0345 for storm-related information, sandbags, disaster preparation and community resources.