By Scott Buttram, publisher
TRUSSVILLE –Trussville hotels are filled to capacity with parking lots full of vehicles with Florida license plates as residents flee the potential destruction of Hurricane Irma. So far, the evidence indicates that leaving the sunshine state was a wise decision.
The storm struck Cuba on Friday night as a category five hurricane before leaving the island nation as a category four. Experts fear Irma will elevate back to category five status as it churns in the Florida straits where water temperatures are near 90 degrees.
Hotel parking lots in Trussville are filled with vehicles bearing Florida license plates. Photo by The Trussville Tribune
Irma is then expected to hit the Florida Keys before heading to the mainland peninsula and driving right up the spine of the state as one of the most dangerous storms in history.
Only three category five storms have hit the United States. An unnamed storm struck in 1935, followed by Camille in 1969 and Andrew in 1992. Irma is bigger than all three and, at 185 miles per hour, the winds are stronger than all three previous category five hurricanes.
The Holiday Inn Express filled all of their rooms on Friday and are booked through Tuesday, front desk manager Breelyn Montgolf said.
Montgolf said they have used their in-house system to check for room availability for guests that they could not accommodate.
“Our manager checked the system for available rooms and pretty much everything is booked all the way up to Tennessee,” Montgolf said.
In the meantime, she said the hotel staff will do all they can to display Southern hospitality.
The Holiday Inn Express in Trussville set up a donation area for guests from other states to help Irma evacuees.
Photo by The Trussville Tribune
“We’re doing what we can to accommodate them,” Montgolf said. “We’ve waived our pet fee because so many had to bring their pets with them. We’ve set up an area for disaster relief donations so other guests can help if they’d like to. We just want to do all we can to help while they’re here.”
The scene was similar at the Quality Inn next to Applebee’s.
“We’re full through Monday,” D.P. Patel said. “My understanding is that there are no available rooms anywhere in the Birmingham area.”
Leonard Crear, the desk clerk at Hilton Garden Inn off of U.S. Highway 11 in Trussville said the hotel was at capacity with rooms booked through Tuesday.
“Most of the guests are from Florida, but we have some from other states, too,” Crear said.
The city of Trussville is also trying to help storm evacuees by providing city facilities to house dogs, mayor Buddy Choat said.
Choat said an associate with the Greater Birmingham Humane Society asked that the City of Trussville temporarily house 50 dogs displaced by the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. The city has offered use of the former Gold Kist Chicken processing plant.
“I don’t want to charge them for this,” Choat said.
The council members all agreed that the city should do this at no charge.
***THIS IS AS REAL AS IT GETS***
***NOWHERE IN THE FLORIDA KEYS WILL BE SAFE***
***YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO EVACUATE***
Please RT. #Irma pic.twitter.com/VWLMEDWoUs
— NWS Key West (@NWSKeyWest) September 8, 2017
New 00Z GFS pretty much inline with ongoing forecasts. Extremely dangerous Hurricane Irma moves up the spine of Florida Sunday/Sunday night pic.twitter.com/vDrj4dDgJU
— James Spann (@spann) September 9, 2017
Irma reaches category five strength again tonight…. on the north coast of Cuba… pic.twitter.com/cTK2k3S5e5
— James Spann (@spann) September 9, 2017
14 Comments
Tere Vermillion Sizemore
It would sure be nice if Trussville and his businesses could get up and activity like the “Third Saturday” for tomorrow to entertain all of these people.
Scott Sizemore
Great idea!!!
Barbie MrsToro
Jessica Toro Hardisson Luis E Toro Gabriel Hardisson
Susan Gill
Tonya Gill Zapata it’s ur job!!
Jimmy Berning
Cajun Steamer will entertain them
Jaime Melton Anderson
Yes!
Diane McNally
Complimentary food and drink
Elaine Kelly Turner
The Courtyard at the Marriott is booked. There are a lot of Floridians there and some have their pets with them.
Tonya Gill Zapata
Thanks to Northpark Baptist church for providing snacks. They are very much appreciated!
Tonya Gill Zapata
Thanks to Ridgecrest Baptist church for the goodie bags and water! We will meet you in the Vulcan room in the morning for devotion!
Catherine Higginbotham
I hope they are getting discounted rates.
Daniel Ingram
Did hotels raise their rates I wonder? Discounted rates, nah… increased rates, hope not.
Wayne Quick
Agree!!
Ian Maddox
Yes, gave that exact message to all of the HS students at FBCT just this morning and I think the church may be working on some type of outreach to evacuees in/near Trussville, if possible.