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FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. – A few days before Hurricane Dorian was expected on the east coast of Florida, residents of this sleepy beachside town screwed plywood planks onto windows, placed sandbags in front of their doors and cut the palm trees in front of their house.
Despite recent weather forecasts that predicted that the hurricane could never cross the Florida coast, many said they know from experience, particularly after hurricane Irma in 2017 and Michael 's. last year, that a storm of this magnitude did not necessarily need. land to destroy homes and property.
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"I used to live there, but I moved inland," said Joseph Brown while he was fishing in the canal next to his former home. "It's because Hurricane Irma destroyed us here, this area, right here, was flooded and I had about two feet of water in my house."
Officials were to announce the evacuation of Flagler County Sunday. Other counties delayed or canceled their evacuation orders on Saturday as Hurricane Dorian seemed to continue to make his way northwest to the ocean, to Georgia and the Carolinas. and off the coast of Florida.
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But people here have said that they would not play with the storm surge, which had destroyed homes here during Hurricane Irma and Matthew in 2016 – although this last storm did not happen. never even touched the ground.
"It's water that needs to worry us," said Leonel Dominguez, 56, while he was throwing sandbags at the back of his car into the lighthouse. hope to protect his house damaged by hurricanes Irma and Matthew.
The National Hurricane Center said Saturday night that Hurricane Dorian had maintained its Category 4 storm vigor and that it would continue to strengthen before the scheduled landing next week, but put in Guard against tropical storm conditions along the Florida coast all week and up to 15 feet of storm.
The unclear trajectory of the storm, which was originally expected to hit the ground on Monday morning in south-central Florida, left many people in the state unsure whether to evacuate or shelter on the spot. .
Past hurricanes have contributed to their indecision, a sentiment that has spread into southern Broward County, said a region that would no longer be affected by Hurricane Dorian.
"Even though conditions look more favorable right now, let's not forget what happened two years ago in 2017, when Hurricane Irma was to spread off the east coast. ", said Saturday the county mayor, Mark Bogen. "At the last minute, he crossed the west coast, then Orlando and Jacksonville."
When he drilled wooden planks over his mother's windows in Flagler Beach, Caleb Fortney, 33, said he did not take anything for granted. His house is located on top of a hill, just steps from the beach, but he had seen the entire city flooded only years before, during Hurricane Irma, a storm that had devoured the road from Florida A1A, being rebuilt nearly two years later. later.
Fortney and many others have said that they expect a storm surge, or an increase in the amount of water caused by Hurricane Dorian on a generally arid land , causes a new flood of the city.
This also occurs during an exceptionally high tide for the coast, commonly known as the "Royal Tide".
"The bottom part of Flagler Beach is going to be hit one way or the other," said Fortney. "We are already at high tide when we are fishing, so even at the present time our hollows are comparable to a normal high tide – we are going to flood thoroughly."
It is this threat and the imminent evacuation order that have led many people to claim that they would probably leave their homes by the sea in the coming days.
Glenn McClary, 53, has charged his entire family, including his nephew, on vacation in Ecuador, to build sandbags at Mala Compra Park on Saturday. Hurricane Storm Irma destroyed their home and, along with his wife, Marisol, said they were not afraid to leave for Jacksonville or the interior of Georgia, if necessary.
"If they tell you to evacuate, you have to do it," says McClary. "Otherwise, you're just putting other people at risk."
In addition, many did not take risks with the palms that surround their homes, calling on the couple Arryngton Turner, 26, and Victoria Casanova, 32, to reduce fronds, which could become dangerous projectiles during a storm. .
Turner and Casanova, former residents, left shortly after Hurricane Matthew for Georgia, but often return to cut down trees and do general work during the hurricane season.
"We were here when the last storm hit, it destroyed everything," said Casanova, as she stuffed palm leaves into the back of the couple's mid-size SUV. "But our phone started to explode and we saw the storm coming in. We could not tell people that we would contact you in three weeks."
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