BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) — While areas throughout Bay County are under mandatory evacuation orders, some residents aren’t leaving. Instead, they’re staying to protect their homes.
Bear Creek residents who are staying put said they’re helping neighbors protect homes. They’re also corralling farm animals.
“As of right now we have some elderly family,” Bear Creek resident John Skinner said. “They can’t really get out and leave so we decided to stay there and watch over them as well.”
Skinner said his grandparents decided to stay. So he stocked up on supplies at Walmart before hunkering down.
“It’s my grandparents, my grandpa, and my nana they’re about 85 and they’re having trouble getting around so they can’t really leave,” Skinner said. “So we decided to stay, you know watch over them.”
Skinner said many of his neighbors evacuated, but there are around a dozen people left in his neighborhood, despite the mandatory evacuations in his neighborhood.