As Hurricane Ian floods streets, Miami-Dade County closing parks, libraries and courts

Miami-Dade County is closing parks and libraries on Wednesday and Thursday as Hurricane Ian sends downpours and threatens to overwhelm the county’s drainage system.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced the closures Tuesday morning as part of a broader rollback of county services due to the storm, which threatens the west coast of Florida with severe hurricane damage and the east coast with downpours and bursts of tropical-storm winds.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade schools will close Wednesday and Thursday due to Hurricane Ian

“Although Miami-Dade County is not in the cone of concern, this is a major storm and impacts are expected to extend well beyond the cone,” Levine Cava said at a press conference in the county’s Emergency Operations Center in Doral.

The county’s court system, which falls under state jurisdiction, also will close Wednesday and Thursday, spokesperson Eunice Sigler said. Some virtual hearings will continue, she said.

Miami-Dade’s buses and Metrorail trains will continue making stops under current plans. That’s based on forecasts that South Florida winds might gust into the tropical-storm range but won’t stay there.

“Our protocol is that we do not suspend service until we get sustained winds of 39 miles per hour,” said Eulois Cleckley, Miami-Dade’s director of transportation and public works. “So we’ll continue to monitor the storm.”

Along with libraries and parks closing, Miami-Dade will shut down most customer-service operations, Levine Cava said. That includes the county’s permitting offices, which will shift to virtual appointments only. All building inspections will be suspended as well.

The city of Miami also announced it was closing parks on Wednesday and canceling trash pick-ups on Wednesday as well.

This story was originally published September 27, 2022 at 12:05 PM.