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How to prepare for a potential tropical storm now

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We're taking action for you, getting you ready for the tropical storm that could hit. That means preparing now before you're racing against Mother Nature.

Right now, a sand bagging pick-up location on Mango Ave. in South Tampa has already given out more than 650 sand bags. Sand is important to protect your home, but it's not the only thing you need.

"What else would I need?" Dorothy Henson asked.

A flood of questions about getting ready for a potential storm.

"You're going to need water if you have water, tarps is another good thing to have, I don't know how your roof is or what you have outside anything that can fly off or what not, sandbags and sand and then obviously something to light everything up," Lowe's store manager Rich Sheldon said.

At Lowe's picking up flashlights and batteries, Dorothy Henson said she sees how bad the flooding gets in her South Tampa neighborhood.

"I have nothing at home I'm not prepared so instead of waiting until tomorrow like you said this is start getting prepared today," Henson said.

The manager at Lowe's said many people put off the preps and scramble when the storm hits.

"We keep enough in stock generally to just serve the every day purposes but when the storms come everybody is trying to do the same thing so the last-minute shoppers that come in I don't want to disappoint them," Sheldon said.

Just like Henson learned, you want to have sandbags, tarps, flashlights and batteries, coolers, bottled water, and maybe even a grill or generator.

"Thanks for you guys if it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't of even gotten all of this stuff so thank you I appreciate that and good luck Tampa Bay," Henson said.

You can get free sand from 8 am until 7 pm with city locations. You can get up to 10 bags per family.