“Please, please stay home”: No Gainesville curfew for Milton, but officials urge everyone to stay indoors

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At a press conference this morning, Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward and other local officials said there would be no local curfew for Hurricane Milton, but they urged everyone to stay indoors during and immediately after the storm.

13 crashes during Hurricane Helene power outages

Ward discussed the possibility of tropical storm-force winds and power outages, then continued, “but let’s be honest, that’s not why you’re here today. You could have learned all that in other places. You’re here because we talked at the City of Gainesville about the potential, the idea, of a curfew overnight, Wednesday night going into Thursday. The reason that we considered that is that two weeks ago, during Tropical Storm/Hurricane Helene, we had about three-quarters of our traffic lights go dark and stay dark for a good long time, more than 170, I believe, traffic lights, intersections, lighted intersections went dark. The City of Gainesville is responsible for those traffic lights. They’re powered by GRU, and the power wasn’t there. So we responded by sending police officers to as many of those intersections as we possibly could, but there were a total of at least 13 car crashes at those dark intersections. We don’t want that to happen again. So our goal here is to encourage folks to stay off the roads.”

Ward said other areas of Florida, “particularly Volusia County,” have implemented a curfew for tonight, and added, “We’ve chosen not to do that as a City government, but it is one of the things that’s in the municipal toolbox to keep folks safe.”

Ward: “Just stay home until you know that it’s safe, not until you think it’s safe.”

He went on to urge residents to “stay home tonight, if you possibly can, especially while it’s dark… Just stay home until you know that it’s safe, not until you think it’s safe.”

Chief Moya: “If you go out there and find yourself in a bad position, it puts our folks in a tough position, as well”

City Manager Cynthia Curry introduced GPD Chief Nelson Moya, who also asked residents to stay home: “We want there to be very little traffic, if any. Because, as you know, when the storm hits, the likelihood of power going out is high, and with winds added to that, trees can come down, limbs, power lines, it all becomes a great hazard for anybody traversing our city streets. So again, we ask that you please, please stay home. It’s bad enough that our first responders have to be out there. What can happen is, if you go out there and find yourself in a bad position, it puts our folks in a tough position, as well. So we’re asking you to not make a bad situation worse.”

Moya added that after the storm passes, there will be trees down and power lines down, so unnecessary driving “multiplies the opportunity for something to go bad, not only for you but for our first responders.”

Treat traffic lights as four-way stops during a power outage

Moya reminded everyone that if the power is out, drivers should treat traffic lights as four-way stops and come to a complete stop before proceeding; he warned against driving into standing water; and he asked residents to follow directions from first responders and “exercise patience with each other.”

GFR Chief Shawn Hillhouse also urged residents to stay home “to make sure that our responders don’t have to go out and help someone if they did not need to be out.” He said anyone who has to be out on the roads should keep their family informed. 

Debris collection will resume Friday, along with residential trash/recycling collection

Public Works Director Brian Singleton said the collection of debris from Helene will resume on Friday, with the debris management contractor picking up piles and bags and GFL picking up debris from reusable containers on their regular routes. Wednesday’s trash service is scheduled for Friday and Thursday’s for Saturday. 

Bus fares are free, parking downtown is free

Ward added that RTS fares have been suspended, and the buses will run until the winds get too high. Parking is free at the Southwest Parking Garage (105 SW 3rd St) today and tomorrow. Parking restrictions are lifted in all parking zones on Wednesday and Thursday. Residents should use the MyGNV app to report fallen trees or other issues. Ward closed by asking everyone to “make it easier on [City staff] by making good choices yourself and checking on your people.”

In response to a question from a reporter about “why specifically” the City chose not to implement a curfew, Ward said, “We wanted to have that option available to us and to research it and do everything we could to see if we wanted to – if we needed to; want has nothing to do with it. If we needed to do it to keep people safe, we wanted to be able to, but it looks like we’re not going to have hurricane-force winds… It’s a pretty extreme measure. We don’t take that lightly at all. We also don’t take, you know, 12 or 13 traffic crashes in one night lightly.” He said, “There are other communities in Florida that are already doing it that are as far north as we are” but did not provide any examples.

Charge batteries, wash clothes

Ward encouraged everyone to charge batteries, “wash your clothes now, wash your dishes now while you have power – just little things like that that we all forget about and wish we had remembered.”