By 2:24 p.m. Wednesday, one Gainesville Publix was on its last shipment of water.
Sharanya Contois, a grocery replenishment associate at the 3100 SW 35th Blvd. supermarket, had been working since 4 a.m. to keep water bottles on the shelf. But as she restocked the final two dozen gallons of water, she knew more wouldn’t be coming until Saturday.
“We’ll probably wind up running out,” she said.
Throughout the day Wednesday, Gainesville residents started preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Matthew. By 5 p.m., UF, Santa Fe College and Alachua County Public Schools announced their campuses would be closed Friday.
As of press time, the National Hurricane Center estimated there is a 70-percent chance Gainesville will experience winds greater than 39 mph. Gainesville could see these winds Friday morning through Saturday morning.
As of the 8 p.m. NHC advisory, Matthew’s eye is projected to pass along Florida’s east coast, with Gainesville in the western part of the “cone of uncertainty.”
By late Wednesday morning, UF Physical Plant Division workers removed loose palm fronds from the front of Library West. A white tarp was placed outside Marston Science Library to keep water from entering, UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said.
Student Nighttime Auxiliary Patrol will stop running after midnight Thursday, according to a UF alert. Gainesville’s Regional Transit System bus service will suspend on-campus service while UF is closed, and city buses will shut down when winds reach 35 mph.
UF dining halls will close at midnight Thursday and will reopen when UF deems it safe to do so.
As of press time, the noon UF vs. Louisiana State University football game is expected to continue as scheduled. A final decision will be made by 1 p.m. today.
UF has no plans to cancel class Thursday, as of press time.
“If we receive information that raises the concern of safety on campus, we certainly would have to revisit the decisions that we’ve made,” Sikes said.
Gainesville emergency shelters will open today. The special-needs shelter for those who need
supplemental oxygen opens at 11 a.m. at the Alachua County Senior Center, located at 5701 NW 34th Blvd. The general-population shelters will open at 5 p.m. at Rawlings Elementary, 3500 NE 15th Street, and the Easton Newberry Sports Complex, 24880 NW 16th Ave.
Those in need of transportation to an emergency shelter should call 352-955-2575 or 352-955-2576. In-county residents can call the rumor-control hotline at 311 or 352-264-6557 if outside Alachua County.
As UF planned to close facilities, Grace Marketplace prepared to open its doors. Jon DeCarmine, the operations director at the homeless shelter, said although it normally houses 115 homeless residents, the shelter will accommodate the additional 150 people in Dignity Village, an outdoor tent city.
For late arrivals, the shelter will not close its front gate Thursday. The gate typically closes at 7 p.m.
During meals at Grace Marketplace, staff and volunteers will make announcements about the storm so residents are aware, DeCarmine said.
“Word of mouth here is more effective here than a high-school cafeteria,” he said.
Haley Ehrlich, a 21-year-old UF anthropology and classical studies senior, buys some of the remaining cases of water at Publix to bring to her family in Jacksonville on Wednesday afternoon. According to Ehrlich, when her family tried to buy water in Jacksonville, it was sold out. “I just don’t know how much to bring,” she said, pulling water from the shelf.
