Pinellas County Opens Sandbag Locations As Irma Nears

PALM HARBOR, FL — As Hurricane Irma barrels across the Caribbean Sea with Florida in her potential path, Pinellas County officials want to give residents plenty of time to prepare. The county on Tuesday announced the opening of its sandbag locations.

The county intends to open three sandbag locations for residents on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Those locations will be open during daylight hours until further notice. The locations are for residents of the county’s unincorporated areas. Residents of the 24 municipalities in Pinellas County are asked to check with their local governments for distribution information.

The three locations for residents of unincorporated Pinellas are as follows:

• John Chesnut Sr. Park, 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor
• Lealman Community Park, 3890 55th Ave. N., St. Petersburg
• Taylor Park, 1100 Eighth Ave. S.W., Largo

Watch: Another Powerful Hurricane Is Taking Aim At The US

Sandbags are limited to 20 per person. While the county supplies the materials and bags, residents must handle the filling on their own. Shovels are made available though, the county noted in a media release. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Palm Harbor Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

As of the National Hurricane Center's 11 a.m. Sept. 5 update, Irma was packing maximum sustained winds of 180 mph as she headed toward the Leeward Islands. The potentially catastrophic storm was following a path that is expected to bring it into contact with Florida by the end of the week.

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