Some United Methodist churches, on the other hand, kept their doors open, serving as shelters not only for people, but for pets, too.

Sanlando United Methodist Church in the Orlando District and Orange City United Methodist Church in the DeLand District began operating as shelters that Tuesday morning and afternoon, respectively, to give people a safe place to go with their pets.

The Sanlando shelter was full by about 3:30 p.m. with nearly 70 pet owners, 12 birds, three ferrets, one gerbil, two rabbits, at least 20 cats and approximately 40 dogs, according to one shelter volunteer.

The shelter had plenty of food for evacuees, according to shelter coordinator Debi Douglas. Local restaurants closing because of the storm sent food the church’s way.

Bridgett Hughes was happy the shelter was there at all, with or without food. She and her husband, John, left their Palm Bay home at 6 a.m. that day not knowing where they would take their brood of four cats, four dogs, an Angora rabbit and two horses. The smaller animals were able to stay at the Sanlando shelter. The horses went to a ranch nearly an hour from the church.

Photo by Tita Parham

Bridgett Hughes arrived at the Sanlando United Methodist Church pet-friendly shelter with her husband and their four dogs, four cats and one Angora rabbit after evacuating their home in Palm Bay because of Hurricane Floyd. Hughes said her dogs and rabbit adjusted to the shelter much better than her cats, including this one named B.J.

"We came up here with nowhere to go," Bridgett Hughes said. "We were listening to the radio and found out about this [shelter]. This was the best thing; it really was."

Hughes said they arrived about 3 p.m. in a van packed full, just before the shelter closed to new arrivals.

"We thank the church a lot," Hughes said. "A safe place is very important."

At around 5 p.m., shelter coordinators began referring people to the Orange City shelter, which already had about 70 people at that time, according to the Rev. David McGaffic, pastor of the Orange City church.

"We had about 101 people [total], plus volunteers," he said. "…39 dogs, nine cats, one bird, a hamster, a rabbit, four representatives from the fire department and four guests in our education building."

McGaffic said the city did not want the church to accept evacuees after a certain point, despite the desire of church trustees to accept anyone needing a place to stay. Several people arrived late that evening after the maximum limit was reached and were put in the church’s education building, McGaffic said.

"All in all, it went quite well," he said. "We had a story time for the children…Blockbuster offered eight family videos. It was a very strange situation, as you can imagine."

Janet Pagan and her two daughters, Rhianna, 3, and Leah, 12, arrived at the Sanlando shelter about 1:30 p.m. with their yellow Labrador puppy in tow.

"I had never experienced anything like this before," Pagan said. "I called here and begged them to let me come."

Pagan moved with her family to Orlando from England only 14 months ago.

"I made the decision that I just didn’t want to stay in the apartment," she said.

This hurricane, however, was not the first for 70-year-old Patricia Mishowe, but she wasn’t taking any chances with the storm. It reminded her of a 1928 storm, referred to as "The Big Wind," that plowed through the South Bay area of Okeechobee Sept. 16 of that year, killing nearly 2,000 people.

Her grandfather went through town during that storm encouraging people to leave by boat, and only the 20 or 30 who took his advice survived, she said.

Born on Riter Island in Okeechobee, Mishowe said she has seen her share of hurricanes and is "ready to run from hurricanes, especially this one."