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Last-minute choices, chores leave some folks scrambling
By RICHARD VERRIER © St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 1998 That was foremost on Laura Lawrence's mind Friday morning as she prepared for Hurricane Georges. "My cats are at the vets," said Lawrence, a 34-year old pet groomer in the midst of repairing some broken storm shutters at her Beacon Square home. "I have a potbellied pig, and I don't know where to put him." Lawrence was waiting for her husband to return with some wood to elevate the pig's outdoor shed, while her teenage son was helping place sandbags around a neighbor's house. "I was planning to get out of here by 12 p.m., but I'm a couple of hours behind schedule," said Lawrence, who planned to stay at her sister's house in Hudson. Lawrence and hundreds of other Pasco residents scrambled Friday to prepare for Hurricane Georges, shoring up their homes and making final trips to the stores to buy items such as bottled water or duct tape. Some trying to protect their homes from flooding found themselves out of luck when the county ran out of sandbags. County officials said they thought people would use about 50,000 bags, figuring that residents used 63,000 over three months of El Nino rains. Still, they ordered 140,000 just to be safe. By 2 p.m., they were gone. "We stopped at Veterans Park and they had sand but no bags," said Eric West, who lives in the Briarwood subdivision, which is in the evacuation zone. "Then they told us to go to the government center, and you had nothing but angry people because there were no bags there either." Samantha Drucker and her husband, John Slauenwhite, were more fortunate. The New Port Richey couple stayed up until 1 a.m. Friday to collect nearly 100 sandbags to protect their Avery Road home. Some of the bags were for their neighbors. By Friday morning, most of the bags were in place and the doors on their three-bedroom home were sealed with silicon. Slauenwhite, a plumber, was covering the last window with plywood. "I'm terrified," said Drucker, 27, who was preparing to evacuate to her uncle's house in Spring Hill. "In 1993 we had 4 feet of water in the house. We don't want to have the same experience. We know exactly what to do." The timing of Hurricane Georges couldn't have been worse for Beacon Square resident Florence Labbe. Labbe, 68, was supposed to sell her Brookfield Drive home on Friday, but the buyer's insurance company said the deal would have to wait until Monday. Instead, Labbe, with some help from her neighbors, was loading up a 17-foot Ryder van full of her belongings. She and intended to visit a friend near Vero Beach. "I'm loading up everything," Labbe said. "I've got a $7,000 organ, and a 52-inch big screen TV. I can't leave that on the floor. I'm thankful I have good neighbors." Ralph Stayskal had done what he could to secure his mobile home on Sundeck Lane in New Port Richey and was ready to head for his sister's house across U.S. 19. Stayskal, who works in construction, loaded up his GMC truck with a TV, tools and groceries. He and his 5-year-old son were waiting for Stayskal's wife, who had gone to fetch some bottled water. "I'm figuring a foot of water, if it doesn't blow away," said Stayskal, 43. "There's not a whole hell of a lot you can do about it." Moon Lake resident Don Poling had checked off everything on his list of hurricane preparedness: canned food, bottled water, ice, plywood. Then he thought of one more thing: a Grill Master and a tank of propane gas, which he picked up Friday afternoon from Scotty's in Hudson. "This is the last thing we need," said Poling, who owns a custom door business in Dunedin. "With charcoal, you don't know how long it's going to last. . . . Better be safe than sorry." Fearing the hurricane, many businesses closed Friday, with some covering their windows with plywood or duct tape. Catches Seafood & More in Port Richey had planned to stay open until 6 p.m. Friday, but shut down after lunch after learning that the county had issued a mandatory evacuation for coastal areas. "We intended to stay open but we've closed the doors," said manager Mark Morrell. At Carrabba's Italian Grill in Port Richey, however, it was business as usual. "Right now it doesn't look like the weather is going to be that much of a deterrent," assistant manager Scott Pendleton said late Friday afternoon. "We just want to keep things as normal as possible for the people in this area."
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OLIDAY -- What to do with the potbellied pig.
