The Naples Police Department is preparing for Hurricane Helene by closely monitoring the city’s streets, especially flood-prone areas like downtown Naples.
Chief Ciro Dominguez emphasized the department’s readiness, saying they're hoping for minimal impact from the storm. "What we're really looking forward to is this being more of a rain event, a water event," Dominguez said. "The key here is time and patience. If we are patient and give it time, the water will recede, the water systems will do what they're supposed to do, and we can have our staff deployed in advance. If there are any emergency calls or medical calls, we can get to them."
Naples police are watching the roads in real time from their technical analysis center and are ready to respond quickly to emergencies.
They also have a new shallow water rescue boat that works in as little as 6 inches of water in case they need to perform water rescues.
"And then tomorrow, when the rain is coming, we'll have this up. We'll have units throughout the city in advance in those locations. And if we see congestion or accidents or vehicles stranded, we can get to those folks as soon as possible," Dominguez said. "We still want them to call us in on all of that, but if we can anticipate or deal with a problem in advance, that's what we'd rather do."
Several businesses in downtown Naples have closed in anticipation of the storm, with many putting sandbags in place to protect against potential floodwaters.
Mitch Norgart, owner of On the Run on 10th Street South, remembered the impact of Hurricane Ian two years ago.
"At this business, even though we had hurricane shutters, we still got water intrusion and I think it was probably about 5 inches of water into the store," Norgart said.
This time, Norgart is taking extra precautions. "We did lose some product during Ian, so we're going to take all the shoes at ground level or floor level and bring them above so that, hopefully, that won't be the concern. But it's better safe than sorry," he said.
The Naples Police Department will be providing updates on road closures and flooded areas through its social media pages as the storm progresses.