Eduardo Valera is not taking any chances.

He’s flying to Colombia to avoid the potentially catastrophic Hurricane Irma. Valera lives in Miami in a condominium on the eighth floor. Although he is not worried about his apartment flooding, he is concerned about losing power and cellphone service.

Flying to Colombia will give him an opportunity to work without the worry of power outages.

He is also concerned that flying objects picked up from the wind will hit his condominium unit. Valera previously experienced a tropical storm where a table lifted up from another unit and smashed through the windows in his unit. As a precaution, Valera is securing personal items and putting other objects in the bathroom to protect from broken window damage.

Keith Nicoll, another Florida resident, has also been forced to evacuate. Teva Pharmaceuticals, where both Nicoll and Valera work, was forced to close its manufacturing plant in Davie, Florida and send home all the employees that work in evacuation zones. Seeing the destruction from Hurricane Harvey, many Floridians are filled with fear. Nicoll, said “Some of the images of Harvey have put [my daughters] in panic mode- not saying they’re wrong, but yeah, it is impacting everyone greatly.” With reports of max speeds of 185 MPH, Hurricane Irma is insinuating fear in the lives of Florida residents.

Big companies are not alone in their preparations; many restaurants along the coast are shutting their doors. Flanigan’s, a restaurant in Deerfield Beach, closed Thursday to give their employees and customers ample time to seek shelter.

Another restaurant, JB’s on the Beach, is going through similar preparations: unhooking electrical, moving furniture, and securing the patio.

Restaurants and businesses fear losing money as a result of Irma. The manager at JB’s on the Beach said, “It will have a significant impact on our income. We are extremely concerned about the restaurant.”

Even though authorities are mandating that citizens evacuate, some are deciding to stay behind. Governor Rick Scott is doing everyone in his power to make sure the storm is taken seriously. He said, “Florida will have major hurricane impacts with deadly storm surges and life threatening winds.”

The effects of the storm are already being seen in countries like Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Haiti. Barbuda was also hit, and this caused damage to 95 percent of its buildings and will leave the island devastated.

With so many people trying to escape the dangers of the storm, there have been reports in Florida of heavy traffic going north. Furthermore, price gouging, which is when a seller raises the price of of goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair, is also raising concerns for Floridians.

Online retail giant Amazon is among the culprits, and has been criticized for selling a package of water for $99. Furthermore, Chevron has been accused of raising their gas prices. Florida’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, called out Chevron publicly in an interview on Fox News where she said, “We noticed we had about 45 complaints against Chevron gas station. So Chevron, if you’re watching me right now, you need to call us and tell us why your prices are inflated in South Florida. There is no excuse for that.” Bondi set up a price gouging hotline and is expected to crack down on price gouging.

Recovery efforts for Florida and Puerto Rico will likely be challenging and slow. Florida and Puerto Rico will face the consequences of a rapidly depleting FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) fund. Because Puerto Rico is an American territory, FEMA has a responsibility to help the country recover. FEMA has only pledged to give Puerto Rico $15 million in recovery funds. The amount in comparison is only about .01% of Texas’s initial recovery fund of $15.3 billion.

Puerto Rico will have more trouble recovering than Florida because they have declared bankruptcy and are now facing an economic crisis.

It is unclear how Irma will impact Florida, but if the damage done in the Caribbean is any indication, Florida will receive catastrophic damage. Valera, like millions of Floridians, has been forced to evacuate his home. He is hoping to return after local authorities declare the area safe and when the power is fully functional.

As for the Floridians that are staying in the America, Valera suggests that they stock up on necessities and hope for the best.