- November 27, 2024
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With Hurricane Matthew expected to hit Central Florida's East Coast late Thursday evening, local residents are preparing to face the oncoming storm.
Broker and owner of NewEdge Realty Ralph Padgett Jr., has weathered through his fair share of hurricanes, including Hurricane Andrew and the hurricane season of 2004. Both times, his houses on beachside were damaged beyond repair.
"When Hurricane Andrew hit, we were in Miami with a house on an island," he said. "It flooded, and there were two feet of water in the house for about a week. I lived in another house on the coast in New Smyrna Beach, and in 2004 the roof blew off and went two blocks away."
Though officials are still unsure of whether or not Matthew will make a direct impact to Florida, the message of caution is this: prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
"Everybody needs to have food, water, batteries, candles and ice on standby," said Public Works Operations Manager Kevin Gray. "We don't want to take this lightly. We haven't been through it in awhile, but we don't want to go through it without."
No evacuation orders have been made, but Gray says if they are, to listen to them.
"We have a lot of old Floridians that don't want to leave," he said. "But if you don't go, we can't get to you. The city, county, and DOT will close the bridge at sustained winds of 45mph. After that, the only thing we can do is say sorry."
Padgett, who currently owns three houses in Ormond on the beach, is preparing to board up some windows and test the high-impact windows some of his houses have.
"We'll see if they meet the test," he said. "All you can do is batten down the hatches, know where your loved ones will be, have your insurance papers in hand and hope for the best. You can't control mother nature."
