Area Hotels Urged to Prep for Florence Evacuees

The Cookeville-Putnam County Visitors’ Bureau has urged hotels in the area to be prepared for a potential influx of Hurricane Florence evacuees.

Vice President of Visitor Development Zach Ledbetter said the Bureau has reached out to hotel and lodging partners across the county.

“We have reached out to those partners asking them if they are so willing to provide a rate to Hurricane Florence evacuees,” Ledbetter said. “As we saw in recent years with hurricanes Harvey and Irma, those individuals are having to flee their homes and are looking out for their livelihood, fleeing into other communities  for safety for sometimes days on end.”

Ledbetter said the Bureau has urged hotels in the area to reduce their rates if at all possible to help accommodate evacuees.

“These people are having to flee. There is no ‘want to’, in most cases,” Ledbetter said. “It is a needed evacuation as Hurricane Florence makes landfall and can create some real damage.”

Ledbetter said area hotels have seen slight increases in occupancy during the hurricane season dating back to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“We’re in the hospitality industry and this is Tennessee [with] that good southern hospitality that we’re known for,” Ledbetter said. “We just need to make sure that is our number one priority in this time of helping our friends and neighbors that are really in a need of a assistance in this time. We want to make sure they have a safe place to stay and that we welcome them into our community.”

North and South Carolina as well as Virginia are currently under a state of emergency as Hurricane Florence reaches closer to the Atlantic coastline.