Collier County Emergency Management held a press conference on storm preparedness

The Collier County Bureau of Emergency Management held a press conference on Saturday.

WINK News spoke with Dan Summer who is the director of the Collier County Emergency Services and Emergency Management.

Summers spoke at the press conference, he encouraged SWFL residents to get ready for the storm.

“Don’t take anything for granted. We want to make sure that everyone all along the Southwest Florida coast is at a high state of readiness. It’s better to be over-prepared than underprepared. And if we’re lucky, it does not hit us,” Summers said.

Summers wants to remind people to evaluate their situation and decide what is safest for them.

“If we have to do some evacuation, obviously, our primary concern will be the immediate coastal area. Regardless of the storm track, we might expect some significant storm surge inundation as the storm if the storm passes us. And so we could have only moderate to severe weather, or even light weather, and have some significant storm surge inundation. So we really have to wait and see,” Summers said.

John Ohara lives in an RV park in Punta Gorda. As Tropical Storm Ian seems to be approaching he is ready to evacuate if he has to.

“We’re probably going to go up to my daughter’s, which is just east of Brandon, probably leave Monday, take the camper up there, because we’re probably gonna have to evacuate the RV resort. And take our chances. We just got to wait and see which way this beast is gonna go,” Ohara said.

He lived on Marco Island for the last 20 years, so he has seen and lived through Hurricane Irma and several others.

“I went through Irma four or five years ago, and that was a strong category 3 if not four. And it can be a mess. And I had no power for 11 days,” Ohara said.

For more information on how you can protect yourself and your family and prepare for the hurricane, click the link.