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Idalia prompts Cedar Key evacuations
Access to Cedar Key, Florida was limited following Hurricane Idalia's landfall. On Wednesday, there were approximately 100 people who needed assistance.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - There isn't much left people can do to prepare for Hurricane Idalia, other than stay indoors, but in Gainesville, many people only started to take the storm seriously the night before it was due to hit.
A woman named Darlene Briggs was out at a sandbag-filling location trying to scoop up the remnants of dirt hours after the City closed it down.
"I was like, ‘What happened to the dirt?’ Because they smooshed it down," said Briggs. "I’m just hoping that [Idalia] doesn’t come here, really, and that it’s not very forceful."
In the hours since Darlene Briggs told said that, Idalia strengthened to a Category 4 Hurricane.
MORE IDALIA AFTERMATH: Storm damage, flooding, toppled trees in hurricane’s aftermath
That’s bad news for Briggs, who just opened a new business this past weekend: God’s Graceful Garden and Nursery.
She showed up at the sandbag filling station with her own bags and shovel and started scooping anyway.
"Just to kind of protect some of the plants that may try to fly away, or anything that may try to hit the sliding glass door," explained Briggs. "A lot of my plants are probably going to go flying here and there, which won’t be good."
She told me FOX 35 wanted to use those last moments before the storm to prepare as best she could. But Idalia’s winds are strengthening, and the rain is getting heavier.
Briggs is trying to stay hopeful but fears for her new business.
"In life, you have to work for a lot of things," the new business owner said. "So it’s like, ‘It’s still here, so I’m just going to get it the best way I can."