Hurricane Matthew isn’t expected to make landfall in the U.S. until Thursday evening. But, many along the East Coast are already bracing for the worst.
Many Western New Yorkers who now call Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina home are among the millions preparing for the predicted Category 4 storm.
Lockport native, Heather Poole is used to extreme weather. All be it the kind where we get snowed in and not forced out. “There's a big difference between hibernation and evacuation!”
Poole said she's been busy stocking up on supplies, and boarding up her home on Cocoa Beach. She just moved there in June. Her biggest concerns with Hurricane Matthew are high winds and flooding. “We have it all cleared out. We packed everything. We got all the TV's away. We're just putting everything up and the water because we don't know if it's going to flood,” Poole said.
So, she's heading to Naples ahead of the evacuation order. She isn't taking any chances.
John Krieger’s taking a different approach. The Hamburg native has lived in Palm Coast for about three years now. That’s about 8 miles from the beach. He said he's staying put. “We're going to ride it out. I got the generator ready to go, plenty of water food, batteries, and flashlights. We’re going to ride it out.”
Megan Genovese lives about an hour north up the East Coast on Vero Beach. She moved there from Silver Creek in 2011. She said the category 4 hurricane should be at her doorstep by Thursday night. She too has been busy stocking up on canned foods and water. “Everywhere around here is a mad house right now. All the gas is gone, all the wood to board up is gone. Water is gone. Everything is really bad right now,” she explained.
“There's stuff to be worried about but all that's replaceable. We're not replaceable at all. So, we have to take good care of ourselves,” Poole said.
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