Robertsdale, AL – Evacuees from Tropical Storm Ida are finding a place to stay at a huge shelter near the Alabama coast.
The Baldwin County Coliseum in Robertsdale opened Monday. About 35 people are working at the shelter, and they outnumbered evacuees at lunch time. The coliseum is capable of holding 3,800.
One evacuee is a 47-year-old bicyclist from Brampton, Canada. Jorg Schlagheck said he had been bicycling from Orlando, Fla., and he spent last night at a state park in the Florida Panhandle. A park worker gave him to the shelter.
Schlagheck said he didn't have a radio on his bicycle, and he didn't know what was happening with Ida until a park worker told him. He said he saved himself a lot of trouble by getting a ride to the shelter.
A Gulf Shores woman, 68-year-old Nancy Box, said she decided to leave her beachside town house and go to the shelter because high waves are forecast and she doesn't swim.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)