UPDATED: 'I'm not going to be intimidated by a storm,' says Florida DJ staying put for Hurricane Irma
UPDATE: After Jose Louie Collazo spoke with As It Happens, he decided to heed the evacuation order for the Florida Keys. He left on Saturday evening and is now staying in Merritt Island, Fla. For the latest on Hurricane Irma, follow CBCNews.ca.
More than a half-million people have been ordered to leave South Florida as Hurricane Irma barrels towards the U.S. coast, but Jose Louie Collazo is hunkering down.
Collazo, better known as DJ Louie C. Rock, lives on Stock Island, near Key West, Fla., which he said has become a "ghost town" since the evacuation order came down.
"The most people that I've ever seen have evacuated," Collazo, who has lived through several hurricanes in Florida, told As It Happens host Carol Off. "It just feels kind of eerie."
Collazo did pack up and leave at one point. But he returned when the forecast changed and it looked like his region might come out unscathed.
By the time the news changed again, he decided it was too late to flee.
Those trying to leave have encountered traffic jams and there have been fuel shortages, especially in south Florida.
"I don't feel comfortable going into that mayhem that's going on. It's a lot of panic, pandemonium in them turnpikes and stuff like that, I just don't feel comfortable," he said.
"Basically, at this point, you have to be prepared for anything that comes. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Preparation is the key right now and we're just keeping an eye on the news outlets and seeing exactly, you know, what they're reporting and just basically hunkering down. That's all I can do right now."
And he's not the only one. ABC-affiliate Local 10 News interviewed several Key West residents who have refused to heed the evacuation order.
"We're Key West conchs, man," one resident said. "We crawl up in our shell and we hang on, brother. We're used to this kind of weather."
Gov. Rick Scott is urging residents along Florida's Gulf coast to get out of evacuation zones.
During a news conference on Friday afternoon in Lee County in southwest Florida, Scott warned of a storm surge which could be between six and 12 feet.
"You are not going to survive this if it happens," Scott told residents. "Now is the time to evacuate."
Later on Friday, he told residents from seven counties that they should leave by midnight or should not get on the road.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami says hurricane conditions are expected in parts of South Florida and the Florida Keys Saturday night or early Sunday
The centre says the upper Florida Keys and into southeast Florida should expect rain accumulations of 10 to 15 inches through Tuesday night. Life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in some areas were possible.
Irma scraped Cuba's northern coast Friday on its course toward Florida, leaving in its wake a ravaged string of Caribbean resort islands strewn with splintered lumber, corrugated metal and broken concrete.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne told As It Happens on Thursday the storm caused "total carnage: on the island of Barbuda.
"I would say that Barbuda was literally reduced to rubble," he said. It looked like a landfill, and that's no exaggeration."
So far, at least 22 people have been killed by Irma, and the toll is expected to rise as rescuers reach some of the hardest-hit areas.
- AS IT HAPPENS: Barbuda 'reduced to rubble' by Irma
- AS IT HAPPENS: Reporter, 19, broadcasts Hurricane Irma live
Collazo, meanwhile, says officials in Florida are the "best in the world' when it comes to hurricane preparation.
"We've done this a million times," he said. "I'm not going to be intimidated by a storm. I'm concerned and I'm going to be prepared. That's the best I can do."
With files from Associated Press