Many Palm Beach County residents heeded warnings and spent Wednesday preparing for the worst.
Dave Palumbo dripped with sweat as he clambered to put up shutters on his business in downtown Lake Worth - Igot’s Martiki Bar. “You really can’t take anything for granted down here, so, we’re just getting ready.”
Palumbo said he’s been through this before, but it had been a while since the last time he had to protect his business from strong winds and flying debris.
“I haven’t had to pull 'em out for 10 or 11 years, but…now we have to figure out how to put them all back up again.”
Across Lake Avenue at Brogues DownUnder, another sweaty business owner wrestled with cumbersome aluminum panels.
“Everyone’s busy putting up their shutters,” said owner Emily Regan. “We’re expecting this hurricane to come. If it doesn’t, that would be wonderful. But we’re preparing for it - so we have a business to come back to.”
Across I-95 at the Raceway station, cars are lined up expecting something else: gas.
“I’ve been waiting about an hour,” said Lina Anescar of Lake Worth. “I went to another station and there was none.”
Anescar said she was not evacuating ahead of the storm.
“I’m staying here,” she said. “This is my town.”
