Ahead of Dorian, Florida county decimated by past hurricanes prepares for worst

Other counties delayed or canceled their evacuation orders Saturday as Hurricane Dorian appeared to continue to track northwest into the ocean, toward Georgia and the Carolinas and away from the Florida coast.Full coverage: Latest stories and video on Hurricane DorianBut folks here said they wouldn’t toy with the storm surge, which had destroyed homes here during Hurricane Irma and Matthew in 2016 — though the latter storm never even made landfall."It's the water that we have to be worried about," said Leonel Dominguez, 56, as he tossed sandbags into the back of his car in hopes of protecting his home damaged in Hurricanes Irma and Matthew.The National Hurricane Center said Saturday night that Hurricane Dorian had maintained its strength as a dangerous category 4 storm and would continue to strengthen before its expected landfall sometime next week, but warned of tropical storm conditions along the Florida coast throughout the week and up to 15 feet of storm surge.The unclear trajectory of the storm, which was first expected to make landfall early Monday in south central Florida, has left many across the state unclear whether they should evacuate or shelter in place.Brushes with past hurricanes contributed to their indecision, a feeling that extended all the way south into Broward County, a region forecasters said would no longer be affected by Hurricane Dorian.“Even though the conditions at this moment are looking more favorable, let’s not forget what happened two years ago in 2017 when Hurricane Irma was predicted to go off the east coast,” Mark Bogen, the mayor of the county, said Saturday.