COLUMBIA COUNTY, Fla. – In preparation for Tropical Storm Colin, the Emergency Operations Center in Columbia County went into partial activation Monday.
Columbia County could see the worst of the storm in the Northeast Florida area.
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The EOC brought in law enforcement and fire rescue representatives about 3 p.m. to dispatch crews as needed. The first major downpour hit around 11 a.m. and came in waves throughout the day.
Officials said their main fear is possible flooding if there’s enough water, but they said it’s hard to know if that will happen.
The Emergency Operations director said the county will likely be on a partial activation throughout the night.
The difference between partial activation and full activation is there will only be a few workers at the office from each agency to help send out police and fire officials if needed.
If the EOC goes into full activation, they would call in more workers. Most of the manpower would be run out of the center 24-7 until the storm passes.
While emergency crews are on alert for the storm overnight, people who live in the area stocked up Monday to ride out the storm if they have power outages or a loss of water.
Representatives at The Home Depot in Lake City said sales of hurricane supplies picked up Monday.
They said that there was not a lot of concern over the hurricane based on sales over the weekend but that changed Monday morning. They said they sold two generators before noon, and many days they don’t sell one.
The store tries to make the supplies readily available as customers walk in the door.
"Water, sand, flashlights, definitely grills," Home Depot Manager Jennifer Tuttle said. "They got a lot of batteries."