Pinellas County residents, officials prepare ahead of Helene

While the Tampa Bay area braces for potential impacts from Tropical Storm Helene, Pinellas County emergency officials are urging residents to heed warnings and protect themselves as well as their properties.

Throughout the county, sandbag sites were meeting a huge demand from neighbors looking to shore up their homes. The City of St. Pete saw lines of cars around their locations, handing out more than 33,000 sandbags during the day.

“I'll definitely tarp up and do what I can to keep water out and grab the kids and the dogs and get out of this area for a couple days,” said Reggie Cardozo who was sandbagging his home in St. Pete’s Shore Acres neighborhood, which is especially wary of flooding.

Shore Acres, one of several communities who have just finished cleaning up after recent rounds of flooding in the summer.

“This entire neighborhood floods when it's high tide, so sprinkle in some storm surge, and hopefully won't be high tide when the storm is here. But, yeah, I think everybody here takes it pretty seriously,” says Cardozo who was also helping clean up around his neighbors’ home.

Coastal areas around the county also getting their storm preps in order Tuesday, at Gulfport’s Municipal Marina, crews were working to make sure boats were secure and other hazards were cleared.

[richardnone]

sand bags and old bags that is what is in St Pete