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Pasco officials urging residents to heed evacuation warnings ahead of Hurricane Helene

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Published  September 25, 2024 10:14pm EDT
Pasco County
FOX 13 News

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Families used their last full day before Hurricane Helene on Wednesday to prepare their homes, as storm surge became a big concern for those in Pasco County. 

County leaders are urging people to heed evacuation warnings, which are mandatory for Zone "A" and mobile homes, and recommended for "B" and "C." 

"If you're in 'Zone A' you really need to get out now," said Mike Carballa, the Pasco County administrator. "The storm surge associated with this is some of the most dangerous that we’ve seen. In fact, the calls we are getting from weather officials is levels up to, if not over, 10 feet of storm surge… that’s four feet over my head."

READ: Is Publix open during Hurricane Helene?

The strongest winds are predicted to begin around 8:00 a.m., giving people little time on Thursday to evacuate. 

"Don’t wait until noon because then we could be under tropical storm force winds, and we can't even get out high water rescue," said county officials. "First responders can't always be out there during tropical storm force winds. Once we hit 39 mph it is not safe for our folks to be coming to save you, so please evacuate." 

But, not everyone is heeding warnings, hoping to stick out the storm from home. 

MORE: Where does Helene go after hitting Florida? Southeast, mid-Atlantic could see 'catastrophic' flooding

"It's always a last-minute decision if you’re staying or going, always," said Michael Cannizzl, of Pasco County. "My wife will make a decision tomorrow morning, as it should be, and I'll probably decide by tomorrow afternoon."

"We always worry a little bit, but it’s our home, we have to try to protect it, we have our pets here, we are not going nowhere," said one neighbor.

"So far, I've gotten sandbags for front and back door and garage. I heard it's going to be really bad, a lot worse than other storms, so I just want to be as prepared as possible," said resident Richard Burks.

READ: Hurricane Helene: Port Tampa Bay closes shipping channels, cruises impacted

"I've been here many years, and this is something they predicted a couple days ago to go at this point and increase to 15 to 20 feet of storm surge. As you see, I'm prepping pretty good here. I don’t normally cover my cars to this extent, but this is all just necessary preparations. I think common sense stuff, just getting ahead of the game, proactive, don’t wait until the last minute," said resident George Thomas. 

The county does have six shelters open for the storm, and the Florida Division of Emergency Management is offering free Uber rides to those sites if you need to evacuate. You can find locations and information at mypasco.net.

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