Pasco County homeowners prepare for the impacts of Hurricane Helene

Pasco County officials have issued a mandatory evacuation for people living in Zone A.

The evacuation order includes people living in manufactured home, mobile homes, RVs, and people living in low-lying areas.

Voluntary evacuations are in place for people living in Zones B and C.

Stephen Harris has lived in Hudson for the past 12 years. His neighborhood is located in Zone A.

"I'd say 90% of them evacuate, the only ones that stay are the ones that are built on stilts and some of them on the stilts are scared this time," said Harris.

Harris has no livable space on the first level of his home. He also has breakaway walls to protect his home from storm surge. The walls are designed to collapse.

"My walls are breakaway walls so if it gets too rough, too high, the waves start coming in...the walls will fall out," said Harris.

He said in the past, storms and hurricanes have flooded his street. His family shared photos with ABC Action News of the flooding from last year.

Dozens of homeowners visited sandbag sites in Pasco County to prepare for the impacts of Helene.

"We had some flooding last year and I was one of the lucky ones so who knows this time so I'm just doing what I got to do just to be safe," said Nick Panteliovis.

Homeowners said they are concerned about the possible storm surge.

"It's always the main concern. Honestly, we luckily haven't been directly hit...the bigger concern is just storm surge, keep water out of the house," said Ari Brock who lives in Hudson.

For the latest updates on Pasco County, click here .

Hurricane Helene is now a Category 2 storm. Meteorologist Greg Dee gives an update on impacts to Florida.

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