Evacuation Reception Centers & Shelter Information

When an impending hurricane and a storm surge threatens residents of Bourne to evacuate their homes the town will open the Bournedale Elementary School and the Bourne Middle School, as Evacuation Reception Centers.  These Evacuation Reception Centers (ERC) would open up for residents who need a place away from the projected storm surge to be safe during the landfall of the storm, but would not provide overnight sleeping areas or a food service program.   Both locations would be promoted as Evacuation Reception Centers, where residents could seek a safe location to ride out a hurricane’s landfall and rising flood waters.  Once the hurricane has past, residents may either return to their homes or seek sheltering in one of the two Upper Cape regional shelters, Falmouth High School or Sandwich High School.  The town could provide transportation to either of these shelters through the assistance of bus transportation by the Bourne School Department, Bourne Council on Aging, or by a bus operated by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority.

What to Bring to a Evacuation Reception Center

You should bring the following items for each member of your family:

  • Personal toiletries
  • Towels
  • Prescription medication and over the counter medication used daily
  • Change of clothes for 2-3 days
  • Any personal essential you or your family may need
  • Table games, cards, or reading materials
  • Snacks for your and your family.
  • Important papers, including something with your address on it.  Do Not bring large amounts of cash or valuables, weapons alcohol or illicit drugs.
  •  Before leaving for the shelter be sure to let family or friends outside of the area of where you are going.

Red Cross Regional Shelters

The Regional Emergency Planning Committee (REPC) and the American Red Cross have developed a system of five regional shelters located across Cape Cod.  These shelters when activated will be staffed with specially trained shelter personnel and will have a medical component that can address non-emergency medical needs as well as a animal sheltering unit that can accommodate domestic house pets separate from people.  Bourne residents seeking overnight shelter and meals or having medical needs or pets, should consider using the regional shelter at either the Sandwich High School, 54 Quaker Meetinghouse Road, Sandwich; or the Falmouth High School,  874 Gifford Street, Falmouth.

The reason Bourne and every town on the Cape doesn’t have its own shelter is because of the expense and lack of volunteer resources to staff 15 separate shelters across the Cape. Volunteers deliver the vast majority of services provided at the six regional shelters. These volunteers work with groups including the American Red Cross, the Cape Cod Medical Reserve Corps, CCDART, LCAST, Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES), and AmeriCorps Cape Cod.