JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – Florida’s director of the Division of Emergency Management is urging residents to keep an eye on the storm, especially those in coastal communities such as Vilano Beach.
Residents around the coast have said they were preparing early and started gathering sandbags as the storm gets closer.
Kevin Guthrie with emergency management officials advised coastal communities to stay on high alert for this storm.
“People into Vilano Beach, Duval County, Jacksonville Beach all the way into Fernandina Beach, everybody needs to pay attention to this,” Guthrie said. “A lot of damage to beaches potentially a lot of wave height action that is double-digit wave heights were concerned about that.”
A Summer Haven resident told News4JAX she was hoping that her roof will withstand the anticipated strong winds after it experienced damage from Hurricane Ian.
Skye Taylor has lived in Summer Haven for over a decade.
“I’m a little worried about this new storm and my vulnerability to rain coming in,” Taylor said. “My neighbor said he could see the whole roof lifting up like the house was breathing.”
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Taylor said the insurance company won’t pay to repair her roof. She hopes it will hold up during the storm.
She said if the storm doesn’t bring too much wind, sandbags and patches could be a good protective measure.
Taylor is going to put sandbags on the roof.
“It’s the only way I think I can protect it. Hopefully, it holds all the patches down where it could leak,” Taylor said.
Other residents are praying the effects of the nor’easter spare their community.
The emergency management director also urged residents to make sure they’re still prepared even though hurricane season is coming to an end.