Miami-Dade, Broward public schools to close Wednesday as Hurricane Milton approaches
MIAMI: As Hurricane Milton approaches Florida, Miami-Dade and Broward public schools, five public universities and Nova Southeastern announced plans to close.
Schools
The school district in Miami-Dade announced Monday afternoon afternoon they will close campuses at 5 p.m. Tuesday for activities and adult education. Then, Wednesday all classes are canceled and offices closed.
Broward's school district also announced plans Monday afternoon. District offices will be closed and after-school activities canceled at 4 p.m. Tuesday. All campuses and offices will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday.
Palm Beach County's school district announced Monday that campuses will be closed Tuesday through Thursday.
Monroe County hasn't announced plans.
Nova Southeastern University will close its Fort Lauderdale/Davie, Kendall, Miramar, Oceanographic (Dania Beach) and West Palm Beach campuses from 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. Also, NSU University School and NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, NSU Health clinics across the tri-county area will be closed as of 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.
Five public universities -- University of South Florida, University of Central Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, New College of Florida and University of Florida -- will be closing their campuses. This also happened during Hurricane Helene.
The University of Florida on Monday announced offices will be closed an classes canceled, including online ones, beginning at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and continuing through Thursday in Alachua County. There are no plans to evacuate student residents of the Gainesville campus.
UCF in Orlando will suspend operations on all campuses and online classes from Tuesday through Thursday. Standard operations will continue through 11:59 p.m. Monday, and are planned to resume at 6 a.m. Friday,. UCF Housing will remain open but campus services will be closed.
All USF in-person classes and offices will be closed Monday through Wednesday. A decision hasn't been made about Thursday. As of now, residence halls on the Tampa campus will remain open but the St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee ones will close at noon Monday.
Gulf Coast classes will shift to remote operations Monday, including classes. The campus in Lee County will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday. A decision about Thursday operations will be announced by Wednesday. Plans are to keep the residence halls open.
New College will close its Sarasota campus from Monday through Friday. All students living on campus will be evacuated by noon Monday and for those with nowhere to go Sudakoff Conference Center will be available as a shelter.
Brightline
Brightline will cease operations all day Wednesday and Thursday between West Palm Beach and Orlando. Service between all South Florida stations is expected to continue with 14 roundtrips both days.
On Tuesday, Brightline's 7:45 p.m. northbound departure from Miami will terminate in West Palm Beach. All other Tuesday departures will operate as scheduled.
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers announced Sunday "that out of an abundance of caution" Monday's Champions Ring Ceremony will not continue as planned. But opening night Tuesday against the Boston Bruins at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise is still scheduled.
"As this event would take resources from first responders and service providers, we have made the tough decision to cancel our Champions Ring Ceremony out of an abundance of caution for the safety of all involved. We will instead distribute our championship rings privately," President and CEO Matt Caldwell said.
The Panthers said fans can expect a full refund for their donation at their point of purchase.
Zoo Miami
Zoo Miami plans to remain open this week "as long as weather permits" after the zoo was closed Sunday because of inclement weather.
Some animals will be in indoor enclosures but the gardens, trails and select exhibits are open.
The zoo is offering a 50% off admission during this time.
Roundtable at the Latino Summit
Tuesday's event with former President Donald Trump at Trump National Doral Miami was postponed due to severe weather forecasts.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with those in the path of Hurricane Milton, and we are postponing the Latino Summit as communities prepare for the storm," Danielle Alvarez, Trump campaign senior advisor, said.
