Flooding remains fear in Volusia County as Dorian heads toward Florida

Residents prepare for rising waters

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – With Hurricane Dorian at a Category 3, Central Florida residents are prepping for the storm. 

Joe Cabrera spent his day boarding up windows on a house his family moved into just a few months ago.

Cabrera is not new to Florida but said he still has some concerns.

"I'm more concerned about the wind and water, obviously. But if you have a broken window, it's going to be hard to protect yourself from 100 mph winds and water. It's better to be safe than sorry. Might as well seal everything up," he said.

Cabrera and his wife will ride out the hurricane in the hospital where his wife is a nurse and is nine and a half months pregnant. He said his son is due Sept. 6.

"We're joking around naming him Dorian!" he said.

But other families who live down the road in Sha-de-land Mobile Home Park said they won't be able to leave.

"I have about 10 people in my home. Three of them are on disability," said Connie Gutierrez.

The Gutierrez family is still feeling the impact of Hurricane Irma after it ripped off the trailer's awning, took out windows and flooded parts of the home.

"I'm concerned now that the whole roof is going to come off on that side," she said.

Many other residents also spent the day in the pouring rain filling up sandbags, hoping they will deter potential flooding. The city of DeLand said it has been working around the clock to keep that flooding to a minimum.

"We've just been making sure that all of our retention ponds pumped out as low as possible. All of our lift stations are on generators. We're just making sure that the city is safe and we want our residents to safe out there in the storm," said Chris Graham, a city spokesperson.

Melching Field will be open Friday until 7 p.m. for residents to fill sandbags.  It will be open Saturday, but residents must bring their own bags and shovel.
 


About the Author:

Loren Korn is a native Texan who joined the News 6 team as a reporter in May 2014. She was born and raised in Houston and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Journalism.

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