SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — People across the area spent the day picking up sandbags ahead of Tropical Storm Idalia to protect their homes.
Many local governments are providing both sand and bags — all you have to do is pack them yourself.
Neighbors took advantage of the self-service sandbagging made available at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota County as well as Ed Smith Stadium and South County Fleet.
"We just picked up a couple of bags that the county is offering to the residents of Sarasota," Sarasota homeowner Erica Cedar said.
Cedar and her family have been in Sarasota just a year and a half and have quickly learned from their experience with Hurricane Ian nearly a year ago. This time around, they want to be better prepared than they were before. That's why she and others are taking advantage of the 10 sandbags per car the county is allowing.
"You'll always get some water if it's raining, especially sideways rain, but it will help with the initial flooding and that's what I'm doing," Cedar added.
But officials say you need to know what to do with the sandbags for them to be effective at protecting your property from rising water.
According to emergency management officials, sandbags are best used to line around your doors or your garage. The sandbags act as a wall so that extra water doesn't come in.
"Make sure you get those sandbags tightly compacted together. You know it is sand so you can form it. Basically, you want to set it down, put the other one right next to it as closely as possible, get them together so you're forming that barrier," Jonathan Loschin, the county's parks supervisor, said.
The sandbags can also help with areas around a property that are sloped or are not high enough to keep a barrage of rainwater at bay.
"You've got your driveway area, you've got your front door if you have a backyard that has a slider that just goes right onto the property there or you know you're living in a flood zone, those are usually areas that you need to concentrate on," Loschin said.
County officials also said because of frequent extreme weather events like this, people can keep the sandbags after the storm as they can be used more than once.
"I hope everybody weathers the storm perfectly and this won't be our last," Cedar said.
Sarasota County sandbag operations will continue from 7 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Aug. 29, weather permitting.