ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – People in St. Johns County are preparing for the potential tropical storm that could impact parts of Northeast Florida.
There will be a small at the St. Johns County Emergency Operations Center monitoring the weather situation on Saturday and depending on what happens with the storm, they could bring in more staff to work on Sunday.
A potential tropical cyclone is heading toward Florida this weekend and everyone from emergency management officials to business owners are preparing for storm impacts.
Kelly Wilson is the Deputy Director of St. Johns County Emergency Management. She encourages people to pay attention to the weather and use Saturday as a day to ensure their emergency kits are stocked.
“Do you have that food and water for your family for you know at least three days? Do you have your prescriptions? Do you have all those things filled out make sure you have enough of your family, your pets, make sure we have food and water for our pets as well. It’s a great time to know your evacuation zone. We don’t anticipate evacuations at this time with this storm. But it’s a great time to go ahead and find out are you in an evacuation zone,” Wilson said.
Ugochi Nwoga owns Ovico Art Gallery located off State Road 16. News4JAX met her at an event at Art Box in downtown St. Augustine, but she tries to avoid downtown when bad weather hits the area.
“My children go to school, downtown St. Augustine, and any little bit of rain really causes an issue in terms of maneuvering downtown. So I will stay away from this area on Sunday just to be safe,” Nwoga said.
Wilson said the county is continuing to monitor forecasts from the National Weather Service about the amount of rain St. Johns County could see from the storm system. While it is not expecting storm surges at this point, she asks that people still do what they can to stay safe.
“We’re gonna ask folks, you know Sunday when the weather starts to deteriorate, maybe stay at home, stay off the roads, take that opportunity to take the day off and relax at home,” she said.
Another good reminder Wilson said is something we hear frequently about flooded roads, so if you see a flooded road this weekend don’t drive through it, find another way to your destination if you can.