CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- There are two evacuation zones in Cape Coral as Hurricane Irma approaches the state. Some residents tell Fox 4 they're taking off as quickly as possible, while others say they'll be sticking it out at home.
"I've lived here almost all my life, and that storm is nothing to joke about." Instead of riding the storm out in her Cape Coral home, Jill Henderson and her family will be staying at the Island Cove shelter, with fellow evacuees. “We were there last night and it was really good accommodations, as far as...I felt really safe."
John and Carol Eaton live down the street. They say their safest place is at home. "You can't follow a storm, you can't run north to get away from a storm going in that direction, so unless we want to drive to Alabama, there's no place to hide," says John.
While some neighbors are concerned about storm surge and flooding, the Eatons think it won't be as bad as people say. "We're almost 12 feet up, so it's not that bad. But if it happens, it happens. Okay? There's a lot of people that are going to be a lot worse off than we are."
As for the Eatons, they say they are prepared for the worst and have enough food and supplies to live off of.
Dozens of people sat down for dinner inside Nevermind restaurant Saturday evening to get one last moment of peace before the storm.
"My husband says it's our last supper, for a while. But not really, but it's like, you don't know. I mean, you never know," said Shannon Stahlhut.
Stahlhut and her family live in Fort Myers, on the third floor of an 18-floor high rise. She and her husband aren't strangers to hurricanes. They've been through their fair share of them.
"This one seems like it's the scariest of all of them, but we're prepared," Stahlhut said.
It's a sentiment shared by several of Nevermind's other patrons. Many say they are nervous about the storm but remain confident that it will pass through and, at the end of the day, they will be hunkered down and safe.
Emergency officials have ordered mandatory evacuations in Cape Coral in all of Zone A and the sections of Zone B south of Pine Island Road. Also in Cape Coral west of Burnt Store Road and south of Cape Coral Parkway, east of Del Prado Boulevard to Viscaya Parkway.
Click here for a full list of area evacuations.
Family in Cape Coral is packing up & headed to Ft. Myers. Less concerned about wind, more about #StormSurge & flooding #Irma @fox4now @kgun9 pic.twitter.com/koD3D5maci
— Max Darrow (@MaxDarrowTV) September 9, 2017
