JUPITER, Fla. (WSVN) — Business owners in a tight-knit Palm Beach County community are extending a helping hand to area residents as they all prepare for possible landfall by Hurricane Dorian.
Gus Ramos, the owner of Skipper’s Marine in Jupiter, stayed open as long as possible on Friday in an attempt to help customers who had to buy last-minute supplies to secure their boats.
“This wall was full of three stacks out of anchor lines,” he said as he showed a 7News crew one of his store shelves.
Ramos said business has been brisk.
“Rope, we’re pretty much sold out. People are buying it by the spool of rope instead of by the foot right now,” he said, “so, yeah, you want to help [customers], but then, at the end of the day, you still have your own stuff to take care of, and you’ve got to do that, or you’ll be in trouble.”
Lisa Albert, who works at the Old Dixie Cafe in Jupiter, said this is a close community.
“It’s a close, family-knit area, and we’ve been here — I’ve been working here 17 years. I know all my customers,” she said.
The cafe’s owner said he’s already thinking about how soon he can reopen after the hurricane passes. He’s aiming for Tuesday or Wednesday.
“The plan is, if we’re able to open, we come and serve the food, yeah, to the people,” he said.
Naturally, everything depends on Dorian’s path.
“I’m not happy about it. It’s a pretty scary storm,” said Jupiter resident Dan Peters. “Besides changing all our Labor Day plans, it could change everything. It would be a whole lot worse than just messing up a vacation.”
“All you can do is board up and do the best you can and then ride it out and go with it,” said Ramos.
So whether Palm Beach County residents are boarding up or getting sandbags, families continue to prepare.
“Well, we’re on the river, so I do worry about the boats and the house and the whole works,” said Peters, “and if it gets bad enough, we may have to just jump in the boat and head down to Miami with you guys.”
Other Palm Beach County residents can head up to shelters to ride out the storm. They’re scheduled to open up Sunday morning.
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