(NHC) With Tropical Depression Thirteen potentially becoming a hurricane and headed toward Southwest Florida, now is the time you need to prepare to make sure your family is safe. At the Home Depot at the Forum in Fort Myers people were already buying plywood to protect their homes Thursday afternoon. Others were getting the essentials – just in case they’re home for a while. MORE: Hurricane Central Todd Bello says he’s taking no chances despite the storm being two thousand miles away right now, “I’m going to buy a generator this time because actually I lost my lights the other day and you don’t appreciate electricity until you lose it.” Kelsey Simmonds says she is a hurricane veteran and knows preparing early is the only way to go. Wait – and you won’t find what you need “A hurricane is unpredictable,” she said. “It could go either way. And even if it does stay on the East Coast, which is Miami and that area, we could still get a lot of the wind, rain, could cause downed lines, power lines, stuff like that and could cause you to not be able to go out and get the essentials.” The storm is days away, but the smart money is on being safe, not sorry. And the advice from Dora Ryals of Fort Myers, “We live in the time when there are challenges every single day so we have to be prepared.”