Clewiston shows it’s taking Isaias seriously

Isaias may have been downgraded to a tropical storm Saturday evening, but that didn’t stop people in Clewiston from making sure they were prepared.

Cruz Martinez never stays when storms come around. “I don’t ever stay, I usually leave.”

But this time, she and her family decided to stick it out. “Well, because it’s supposed to hit further to the east and not really be bad or anything.”

They are prepared, though, just in case anything happens.

“We’ve just gotten canned food, making sure that we got water, just in case. You know, just the necessities. Batteries in case the power goes out,” Martinez explained.

Clewiston’s director of Public Works, Sean Scheffler, said they, too, are prepared if anything happens.

“We still feel like it’s skirting the east coast of Florida and we’re on the dry side of the storm so we’ve made preliminary precautions and put things in place,” Scheffler said.

Crews have been working in Clewiston to make sure citizens are safe.

“Crews have been working hard the last couple of years hardening the electric system and improving drainage and everything else, so I think we’re ready,” he added.

While Scheffler believes everything will be fine, he still wanted to make sure there were precautions in place in case anything did happen.

“There’s no such thing as a little hurricane. If it reaches hurricane strength, I don’t know, there’s something about 75 mph winds that just make me say, you know, it could still hurt ya,” Schffler said.

Scheffler also added that electric crews are on standby and that they’ve tested all of the generators. He said he has lived through his fair share of storms and is not worried.