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SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (SNN) — Lido Key will see some effects of Idalia by Tuesday afternoon.
Christine Franklin and her family are visiting from Ohio and are worried they won’t be able to make it back home in the next few days.
“I was planning on flying home on Thursday and so I’ve been kind of monitoring the storm to see if we can even get back home on Thursday,” Franklin said. “I went to buy groceries and waters and stuff like that. We’re a little bit more afraid of what’s going to happen because we don’t know, we’ve never been through it.”
According to the National Weather Service, the most common hazards are storm surge flooding, inland flooding from heavy rains, destructive winds, tornadoes and high surf and rip currents.
Visiting from Cape Coral, Terry Zornes says he’s seen businesses on the island being preparing.
“The people that work in the condos and stuff are putting the chairs away,” Zornes said.
He says he’s experienced many hurricanes before and will be ready when Idalia hits.
“I’ll get home in time tomorrow to put things away in the garage and batten down a little bit. I just prep for afterwards, I mean, I try to keep the house safe. Put the hurricane shutters up and then have the generators ready to go, have water, have gasoline or propane to run the generators,” Zornes said.
It’s important to have an emergency kit, family emergency plan, and know if you live in a hurricane evacuation area. If you aren’t in an evacuation area, you should cover all of your windows.
During the height of the storm, stay in a small room, closet or hallway on the lowest level of your home and put as many walls between you and the outside as you can.
For more tips on preparing for Idalia, visit www.weather.gov.
