CLEWISTON, Fla. — Hendry county residents are choosing safe over sorry tonight, as dozens file into hurricane shelters in Clewiston.
Many of them, choosing to wait out whatever impact Hurricane Dorian may have, inside Clewiston High School.
That high school, Labelle Middle School and Pioneer Community Center, have all been designated as voluntary shelters by the county.
According to Hendry County Emergency Management, officials opened them up because the county is prone to flooding and has a large number of manufactured homes.
Fox 4 caught up with Maria Reyes, who just moved to Clewiston from from Maryland.
“We bought a house here because I like the beaches so we decided to move, but we never expected that we were gonna get hit with a hurricane," said Maria, "It’s very scary. Very, very scary.”
Reyes encourages anyone whose home might not withstand flooding and strong winds to take shelter like she did.
“There’s a lot of people are afraid to come to shelter because they are thinking that they are going to get their items stolen from their home, but material doesn’t matter. Your life matters. Material you can replace. Your life, you can’t replace," said Reyes.
Hendry County school officials say these shelters will stay open until they know more about Dorian’s impact.
