ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Hundreds of people lined up outside Evans High School on Saturday for Orange County’s hurricane expo.
This year, people were able to visit several vendors and speak with experts on how to prepare for a hurricane.
“Some counties have alert systems, this gives you the information. And it’s not just hurricanes, you know. Anything that’s happening — like, we’ve had some wild weather,” Donna Budynski said.
Budynski drove from Seminole County to be at the annual event and remembers some of the bad storms that hit Central Florida two decades ago.
“I was here in Orange County for the three. Yeah — Charley, Jeanne and Frances. At the first one I brought everything in and then I took it all out again, and then the second one, brought it all in. The third one, it was like, I wasn’t prepared,” she explained.
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Dozens of vendors including Duke Energy, Home Depot and Orange County Utilities had experts on deck to help with any questions.
“A lot of people think because we are centrally located that a storm might not hit us, but we do actually deal with flooding in our area which is very dangerous for our communities,” said Kirsten Reckendorf with Orange County Emergency Management.
Flooding problems are exactly why Levi Williams came to the expo Saturday. She’s been living in Orlo Vista, where neighborhoods flooded during Hurricane Ian in 2022.
“That’s why I’m here to make sure they are helping me prepare and just in case Orlo Vista gets flooded again,” Williams said.
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