Hurricane Irma food stamp sign-up brings traffic jams, capacity crowds to Palm Beach County sites

In a repeat of what happened elsewhere in South Florida, thousands of people were lining up at three Palm Beach County locations before dawn Tuesday for the start of a post-Hurricane Irma disaster food stamp program. One location in Delray Beach reached capacity and was closed to additional arrivals shortly after opening.

The Food for Florida program offers vouchers to families who lost food in power outages caused by Hurricane Irma. Those who qualify receive benefit cards, possibly worth hundreds of dollars, that can redeemed at supermarkets.

Three Palm Beach County registration sites will be open Tuesday through Saturday at Lake Ida Park in Delray Beach, John Prince Park near Lake Worth and Glades Pioneer Park in Belle Glade. Doors opened at 7 a.m.

By the time the facilities were opening, extremely heavy turnouts were being reported at Lake Ida Park and John Prince parks. There were also reports of long lines and traffic jams at Pioneer Park, according to Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay.

By 5 a.m. at Lake Ida Park in Delray Beach, authorities were seen turning people away as a line of cars stretched for at least a mile.

“There were already at 3,500, so they’ve hit their capacity and unfortunately no other people can be processed,” said Delray Beach police Lt. Nicole Guerriero.

Then at 9:30 a.m., Guerriero announced that the Department of Children and Families had reopened the park, allowing in small groups of pedestrians. Still, no vehicles are allowed in the park.

Authorities are asking drivers to avoid the area around the park, as it is still heavily congested.

Police, along with Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies were working to keep people calm in line and keep traffic moving smoothly, Guerriero said.

“We’ve had people report that they’re fainting. We’re here for multiple reasons,” she said.

Claudia Tavin, of Delray Beach, arrived at the park at 4 a.m. and said the line was already packed.

“A lot of people were running like crazy. The people are savages,” she said.

She stood in line Tuesday morning not for herself but for her mother with special needs, she said. A police officer later helped both of them inside.

“It’s definitely safer to turn people away. A lot of people got hurt this morning and there were a lot of ambulances,” Tavin said. “People need to make sure they’re here on time, as early as possible.”

Monica Peraltilla of Miramar also braved the crowds, first at C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines on Friday. She left work and went there at 1:30 p.m., only to be turned away. She stayed there for more than three hours but still didn’t have any luck.

She tried the next day, even sleeping in her car at a Toys R Us about a mile away but she was turned away again after the park filled up.

She’s hoping for better luck Tuesday at Lake Ida Park. She got to the park at 4 a.m.

“Hopefully we get something. My husband didn’t work for six weeks and we lost our air conditioning,” Peraltilla said. “We didn’t have electricity for 3 days. All our food spoiled.”

Palm Beach Sheriff’s deputies announced at 9:30 a.m. that John Prince Park is full. People who were already in line up to Lantana Road will be helped but everyone else is being asked to come back tomorrow.

When the program started in Broward County last week, traffic jams snarled roads, fights broke out as tempers flared and people fainted from standing hours in the sun, officials said.

Applicants can pre-register online, but they must apply in person to receive their benefits.

An estimated 50,000 people lined up at Tropical Park in Miami-Dade County. People waited for hours underneath umbrellas. Some took coolers with them.

The Department of Children and Families shut down three sites in Broward County on Sunday at the request of law enforcement because of the “unprecedented response,” said Jessica Sims, an agency spokeswoman.

DCF will hold make-up events later this month in both Broward and Miami-Dade, and residents can also apply for benefits at the Palm Beach County sites, she said.

Police in Delray Beach expect large crowds Tuesday. The agency issued an advisory to residents asking them to avoid Lake Ida Park because of likely traffic tie-ups caused by thousands of people seeking assistance.

The benefits vary based on income and are available to people who do not normally receive food stamps. A person who earns $1,664 monthly could be eligible to receive $386 in benefits, while a family earning less than $2,710 could receive $1,289.

To qualify, applicants must have lived or worked in a federally declared disaster county and have suffered a disaster-related loss, such as damage to a home, loss of food or reduction of income.

People applying for the Florida Disaster Food Assistance Program are encouraged to pre-register online. The Palm Beach County sites will serve people based on an alphabetized schedule, starting with A-F on Tuesday.

DCF is administering the program, primarily funded with federal tax dollars.

The state will operate 32 sites staffed by 5,900 people, including 1,450 temporary staff hired specifically for the Food for Florida response.

As of Sunday, more than 340,000 people had received emergency food aid in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, according to DCF.

Staff writers Joe Cavaretta, Adam Sacasa and Anne Geggis contributed to this report.

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sswisher@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6634 or @SkylerSwisher