ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — There’s a hurricane, a big one, Category 2 or worse, churning up the Gulf of Mexico. Oil rigs are being evacuated. Local forecasters have lost their trademark smiles as the National Weather Service predicts the storm has taken aim on Baldwin County. Local TV stations are filled with images of people packing up and leaving. The roads are jammed. The storm is coming, and it’s coming fast.

As residents of this area know, it’s all too real.

Where is a safe place to go?

That’s something emergency management officials are hoping that people are deciding right now, long before a storm threatens.

The Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency has a number of “shelters of last resort” in the area that will open on an “as needed” basis for those who can’t get out of the storm’s way. People coming to the shelters will have to undergo a background check and sign a waiver of liability.

One of the newest shelters is the Baldwin County Coliseum Community Shelter and Arena on Fairground Road just off Highway 59 in Robertsdale. Officials took some shelter workers on a tour of the facility last week, so they can become familiar with the new building.

“That’s why we are here,” said Maureen Parnell of Summerdale. Parnell works in the cafeteria at Summerdale Elementary school. She’s plans to be working in the shelter’s kitchen during a storm. “It’s a way of giving back to the community.”

Parnell is a lifelong resident of the area, but this will be her first shelter experience.

“Ivan took my home,” she said. “Frederick followed us to Gulf Shores. After Ivan, I swore I would never see another (storm.)”

Rita Filler, also of Summerdale, was signing up to work at the shelter. A custodian at Summerdale Elementary, she plans to fill the same role should the shelter open.

“Katrina peeled the skirting of my trailer back,” said Filler.

Shelter workers are paid for their trouble and both Filler and Parnell said they’d wait until they say “how bad the storm was” before ushering their families to a shelter.

“There’s room for about 1,900,” said Reneé Cook, a shelter coordinator with the BCEMA of the new Robertsdale facility.

The shelter, Cook added, is a “mass care” shelter, able to help a wide variety of people. BCEMA, added Cook, partners with the Alabama Department of Public Health to provide shelter for about 100 not-too-terribly ill patients and their caregivers (one for each patient) at the Coliseum .

“The whole building has back-up generators,” said Cook.

The Coliseum, says Cook, was built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 200 miles-per-hour.

“The shelter was built to FEMA 361 guidelines,” said Cook. The shelter boasts a state-of-the-art kitchen, some showers and plenty of outlets for those who have medical needs. And while people should plan to bring supplies, a variety of goods, including infant supplies, are stockpiled in the shelter.

Cots, however, will be reserved for shelter staff, the elderly and the ill. The shelter administration will give out the remaining cots on a case by case basis. People should prepare to stretch out on the floor. While service animals are OK, pets will not be admitted to the shelter. Cook recommends pet owners check the EMA Web site, www.co.baldwin.al.us, for information.

A staff of 22 will be onboard, she added, but there will be plenty of help from other agencies in the shelter as well.

“We will have people from the Sheriffs office, the Alabama Department of Public Health, Alabama Department of Human Resources, and Ham operators,” said Cook. “There will also be a paramedic and an EMT from MedStar and agents of the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC) there as well.”

The ACJIC agents will be conducting background checks on all who are admitted to the shelter to make sure those with warrants or a record of sex offenses are isolated.

“The local police department will be notified and given the option of taking the offender to their shelter,” said Cook. “Otherwise, they will be discreetly monitored.”

While the ACJIC agents have ways of spotting possible offenders, Cook says it will be easier and lines will move more smoothly if adults bring ID with them.

“That’s why we need all the adults coming to the shelter to bring a driver’s license or other form of ID,” said Cook.

Checking into the shelter will be mostly automated, explained Chris Yokley, a software developer for the Baldwin County Commission to some of the volunteers. He demonstrated how a card reader can take the information from the magnetic stripe on a driver’s license and “populate” a census form. After the form is filled out, shelter workers can shoot the data up to the Baldwin EMC, so officials can keep a running track of how many people are in the shelter and who is there. Those who do not have ID will have to fill out the forms by hand.

People coming to the shelter should not bring alcohol, illicit drugs, lighters or matches, Cook added.

There are also some younger workers who will help care for the children coming to the shelter.

Sydnee Shutt, a sophomore at Foley High, will be helping to keep the younger residents of the shelter occupied. Workers will have games and movies for the youngsters.

“We do expect parents to help,” said Shutt, adding that youngsters are not supposed to be admitted to the shelter without a parent.

“If they act up we are supposed to go to an adult, who will get the parent,” said Shutt.