Hillsborough County Expands Sandbag Locations As Hurricane Irma Nears

TAMPA, FL — As Hurricane Irma barrels on a course toward Florida, Hillsborough County officials want to give residents plenty of time to prepare. To help out, the county announced on Wednesday the expansion of its sandbag operations.

As of Wednesday, the county is offering sandbags at the following locations:

• West Service Unit – 9805 Sheldon Road, Tampa
• South Service Unit – 8718 Old Big Bend Road, Gibsonton
• East Service Unit – 4702 Sydney Road, Plant City
• Ed Radice Park, 14720 Ed Radice Drive, Tampa
• South County Community Collection Center, 13000 U.S. 41, Gibsonton
• Hillsborough Heights Community Collection Center, 6209 County Road 579, Seffner
• Central Service Unit, 4115 S. 66th St., Tampa

Another Powerful Hurricane Is Taking Aim At The US

All locations will be open until 8 p.m. Wednesday and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. The county makes materials available for residents to assemble their own sandbags. Residents must provide their home address and sign a form acknowledging receipt of up to 25 bags. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Tampa Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Hurricane Irma was on a collision course with the Virgin Islands late Wednesday morning, packing maximum sustained winds of 185 mph. The potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm’s track shifted in the overnight hours to include almost the entire Florida Peninsula. Her projected path shows has her impacting the Florida peninsula late in the weekend and early on Monday.

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