PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Sandbag sites have popped up throughout the Tampa Bay area, allowing homeowners to prep their homes in case of potential flooding. One homeowner, still recovering from Hurricane Idalia, is getting prepared.
“Just out here trying to seal up the house,” Jason McAdams said.
It’s a sound that many Floridians are accustomed to. The sound of shovels on sand as it gets poured into bags. For Indiana native McAdams, filling sandbags has quickly become second nature to him.
“We’ve gotten real lucky,” says McAdams, who lives in Port Richey. “A lot of the hurricanes have either just passed us on the side where it didn’t bring the water or they’ve just gone around.”
For the last three years, McAdams has called Port Richey home. He says in that time the weather has rarely posed an issue. Until recently.
“This year, starting with the last hurricane, we got flooded out,” he said. “Insurance had to pay and rebuild everything. We’re just being extra precautious every time a coastal watch or flooding comes along.”
It’s been just a matter of months for McAdams since that last storm. And because of it, he says, he’s not taking any chances. Placing sandbags in the front and back of his home.
“If the tides pull out fast enough, the sandbags help incredibly. They just really help seal in those door seams and keep the water out,” he said.
As for tonight and tomorrow, McAdams says he’ll be setting alarms for himself at home. Checking in on the water levels every so often.
“I live right by the Cody River so the water creeps up the road toward our house so you can see it coming, typically,” McAdams says. “I’ll just be watching for that water to start creeping up.”
There are two other sandbag sites open in Pasco County. One at Pasco County Public Works in San Antonio and another at Veterans Memorial Park in Hudson. All sites will be open from sunrise to sunset through Tuesday.
Calvin Lewis
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