Dale Peery is prepared for Irma.
The retired army officer served in Vietnam, the Gulf war, and Iraq. He's a survivor.
"The idea is we take care of our family first, then our neighbors, then our street, then our community," he says.
Perry heads up a group of volunteers called "CERT" which stands for community emergency response team.
He lives in a part of south Hillsborough county where the designated evacuation zone just expanded this summer, based on new data about possible storm surge in Apollo Beach.
He's now trying to get the word out to his neighbors to be ready, but if they aren't, he and his team are there to help.
"They've changed their method for how far the storm surge will go, so all the people west of I-75 and all these new subdivisions would be affected," he says.
The bigger concern is the new neighborhoods where homes are being built closer to the water. It may not seem like waterfront property but just a mile and half from here beyond the trees is the edge of
Tampa Bay... And many don't know they now live in an evacuation zone.
Despite living in the expanded evacuation zone, homeowner Stephen Jordan is feeling confident about riding out Irma.
He's hooking his home up to a generator and he's says not going anywhere.
"We've got a good concrete structure, we've got cinder blocks filled with rebar to the truces. I'm a Floridian, were gonna stay here regardless," he says.
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