Residents batten down the hatches

Kirk Mays isn't worried about Tropical Storm Hanna.

Staying calm and praying, the 26-year-old Jacksonville man said, is all area residents need to do.

Mays, who lived through Hurricane Bertha 12 years ago, is not concerned about the risk of a Category 1 storm, but has stocked up on water and batteries - just in case.

"That was a pretty bad storm and things worked out, so I feel like this one won't be so bad, but you never know," he said.

Hampstead residents Frank and Sandra Cameron had a different approach.

While the Camerons spent Thursday afternoon enjoying lunch on the downtown Jacksonville waterfront, they were planning on heading home and getting to work.

"We're on the water so we need to put things away and batten down the hatches," Sandra Cameron said. "Hopefully, it'll be a lot to do about nothing."

They planned to move their deck furniture indoors and secure their windows with plywood.

"We have plenty of water and batteries, and we also have a generator in case we lose power," Frank Cameron said.

After living in eastern North Carolina for more than five years, the Camerons, who are originally from Maine, know the drill.

"Sometimes we board up and there's no need, other times we haven't and we should have," Sandra Cameron said, explaining she'd rather be safe than sorry.

Vicky Collins spent Thursday morning in the Surf City Lowe's stocking up on plywood.

After experiencing Hurricane Wilma while living in Florida, Collins is not taking any chances.

"I'm buying plywood to board up - we have a modular home in Sneads Ferry about five miles from North Topsail Beach, but I don't want to take any chances," she said. "Hurricane Wilma went right over our house in Florida, so I know what it's like, and I want to be prepared."

Topsail Beach resident Bill Johnson saw Tropical Storm Hanna as the perfect reason to purchase one particular supply: a generator.

"I'm going to do more than look today, I'm buying one," he said. "I have been saying I'm going to buy one for a long time, but this time I'm here to do it and get all the other stuff I need for it. That'll be another $200."

Like Mays, 17-year-old Richlands resident Dennis Sweeting isn't sweating Hanna.

"I've been through worse," he said. "I've been through worse storms and I've been through worse accidents."

Sweeting's family isn't doing much to prepare, he said.

"We've got an underground well, so we really don't have to worry about it," he said, explaining that they did have bottled water and a generator just in case.

Sweeting did, however, advise those who had never been in a hurricane before to be prepared.

"Everything that can be picked up and flung around, tie it down because there's a chance it'll happen," he said.

With preparations underway, Collins and her family intend to ride out the storm.

"I asked my husband, and it looks like we'll stay for Hanna," she said. "But if Ike comes, we're out of here."

Topsail Area reporter Suzanne Ulbrich contributed to this report. Contact Jacksonville/Onslow County reporter Amanda Hickey at ahickey@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8461.