Sarasota County Opens Sandbag Stations

SARASOTA, FL — As Hurricane Irma barrels toward Puerto Rico with Florida in her potential path, Sarasota County officials want to give residents time to prepare. The county on Wednesday opened its sandbag locations.

The county’s three sandbag stations will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 6. The locations are as follows:

• Newtown Estates Park, 2800 Newtown Blvd., Sarasota
• Twin Lakes Park, 6700 Clark Road, Sarasota
• South County Fleet Facility, 4571 State Road 776, Venice

Sandbags are limited to 15 per household while supplies last. In addition, Big Earth Landscape Supply, 6625 Bee Ridge Road, in Sarasota is offering sandbags. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Sarasota Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Watch: Another Powerful Hurricane Is Taking Aim At The US

As of the National Hurricane Center's 8 a.m. Sept. 6 update, Irma was packing maximum sustained winds of 185 mph as she headed toward Puerto Rico. The potentially catastrophic storm was following a path that is expected to bring it into contact with Florida by early next week.

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