'We're not worriers': Newfoundlanders in Florida prepared for Irma's arrival

Two sisters from central Newfoundland vacationing in central Florida say they're prepared for the worst that Hurricane Irma can bring, but are hopeful the monster storm will spare the area of too much destruction.

Heather Boone Jeans and Karen Cooke are staying at Cooke's retirement housein Kissimmee, waiting for Irma's expected arrival Sunday morning.

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"We weren't thinking about Irma at all when we booked our flight way back. So here we are," Cooke told the St. John's Morning Show.

"We're not worriers. We've got good neighbours around us and we're all supplied up, and at a moment's notice if it turns towards us we have different options for what to do."

Those options include heading to an emergency shelter at a local school, drivingnorth to Georgia to get away from the storm or just hunkering down where they are with their stockpiled supplies, which they say could last them up to two weeks even without electricity.

Madness at Orlando Costco

Cooke said while they're staying calm, some of their relatives back home in Newfoundland keepasking them when they plan on leaving the area. Even around them in central Florida, the sisters areincreasingly seeing peoplescrambling to get supplies, as they witnessed during a trip to Costco yesterday.

"There wasn't a cart to be had, but even the corrals outside were empty. So what people were doing was watching people coming out of the building and then asking them if they could have their cart and chasing them to their car," she said.

"You can see a lot of panic-stricken people. Some people have spent three days trying to find water. We started early so we have everything on our list."

Neighbours who've been through hurricanes before have been reassuring the sistersthat the Kissimmeearea is usually spared serious flooding even if there are strong winds. They say one neighbour recommended they buy some powdered milk in case electricity goes out for an extended period of time.

Boone Jeans said despite the flurry of last-minute shopping, everyone they talk to still seems hopeful that Irma will veer further east and that life will return back to normal in a few days.

"I think everybody is just getting prepared. It's a wait and see game, I don't think anybody knows exactly where this thing is going to go," she said.

"We're just hoping for the best that it doesn't come this way."