Pasco County officials are exasperated with residents who are ignoring evacuation orders despite the deadly storm surge threat in coastal areas.
“The west side of the county is [going to experience] coastal storm surge. It's going to be a very big surge. Unfortunately, we have citizens that are complacent, that don't want to leave. All we can do is just keep heeding the warning. Please evacuate. We might not be able to come get you,” emergency management director Andrew Fossa said.
There are some indicators that people are heeding evacuation orders. There’s almost 200 people in county shelters, including around 20 pets, as of 5 p.m. on Thursday.
Fossa said that many hotels farther inland are full in Pasco County, too.
As of 5:16 p.m., Pasco County began experiencing impacts from Hurricane Helene, according to an emergency alert.
Earlier this afternoon, residents and visitors of Pasco County at Anclote River Park were fishing and checking on their tied-up boats.
Bob Farmer, 64, was casting off of the dock around noon.
"We're on a fishing dock, and we're gonna stick it out and keep fishing until the rain comes, and when that happens, we'll just head back and maybe go in my sister's pool," Farmer said.
Like the entire western coastline of Pasco County, Anclote is expected to get up to 12 feet of deadly storm surge.
Beyond the choppy water where Farmer is fishing, more than a dozen boats are tied up in preparation for the worst impacts of Helene.
Robert McBride owns the tallest one in the anchorage, a 38-foot sailboat called "Laissez Faire." He was driving through the park to check on his house boat.
"I'm just doing a drive through," McBride said. "I closed the boat up, got out of there, got my dinghy out of the water yesterday, and just waiting for the storm to come."
McBride plans to drive east and shelter in his car, but he said he’s taking the hurricane seriously.
The latest models from the National Hurricane Center keep with steady predictions of complete inundation west of U.S. 19 in Pasco County. Areas with direct access to the water could receive more than nine feet of storm surge.
Pasco County officials are warning that areas east of U.S. 19 are under threat now, too.
