Many people in Florida are still recovering from Hurricane Irma--and the storm season hasn't ended yet. 

  • Manatee County in need of more shelters during major storms
  • Shelters almost full during Irma with only one zone evacuated
  • County afraid of not having enough space if more evacuations needed

Some Manatee County leaders say they may not be able to give everyone shelter if another major storm hits. 

Nancy McMall is one of the thousands of people who had to evacuate during Hurricane Irma--going to a nearby school for shelter. 

"It gave me a sense of security and calm. I really felt that the community as a whole really provided well for everyone," McMall said. 

During Hurricane Irma there was a mandatory evacuation for Zone A and mobile home parks in Manatee County and a voluntary evacuation for Zone B. But county leaders said with just those numbers, they were still trying to keep up. 

"It turns out we need more shelter capacities, perhaps more than the state originally estimated for our area," John Osborne said. 

Manatee County currently has 25 schools designated as shelters. Which, according to the state's population estimation, is enough. However, the county says those numbers are off. 

"What they assumed we would be getting to in 2020 in terms of population were already there," Osborne said. 

Seventy percent of the shelters were full in Manatee County during Irma and that was with only one zone under a mandatory evacuation. 

"Plain and simple, if everyone needed to be evacuated in Manatee County is there enough room? Well, by the 2016 shelter capacity study, there is but based upon what we learned recently perhaps not," he said. 

A new population study by the state will be conducted in January of next year. 

The county said it has made the state aware of the problem and has requested more funding and space if a major storm comes our way, but for now, they just hope we don't see anything major, anytime soon.