TAMPA, Fla. — Florida residents have been scrambling to prepare for Hurricane Ian. Newswatch 16 spoke with Daniel Wardlaw, a Florida resident, and friend of Newswatch 16's Chris Keating.
"Grocery stores are more crowded than usual, lines for gas were long. Items like generators, sandbags, and water bottles are all out of stock," Wardlaw said.
He lives just west of Tampa Bay on a plot of land near the water, otherwise known as Zone A. The National Weather Service projects that area to get four to five feet of flooding.
"All of that was evacuated Monday night, with mandatory evacuation. It usually starts with mobile homes, then Zone A, and as it gets worse and worse, they evacuate A, B, C, D, E, F, and so on."
The storm caused Wardlaw to evacuate to his girlfriend's parents' house about an hour north of Tampa Bay. They had to move furniture and sandbag doors before they left.
"We moved our furniture away from entrances and off the floor as much as we could. We spoke to neighbors who said that in the past, rain has gotten in and flooding has happened there, so they warned us pretty well, and we are taking as many precautions as we can."
The hurricane has already made landfall in Florida with wind gusts of around 100 miles per hour. Wardlaw says he is going to wait out the storm and avoid being near windows and entrances.
"It is understandable to be scared, but being with family and friends or just a shelter is comforting. We think that we are going to be OK where we are now, but our thoughts are with family and friends who are in the southwest part of Florida that are being hit more directly."
See news happening? Text our Newstip Hotline.