Imagine a scenario where a Category 5 hurricane could be on its way to where you live.

That's the harsh reality in Florida, as residents brace for colossal Hurricane Irma and the potentially disastrous winds that could accompany it.The most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic caused deaths and injuries, destroyed homes and flooded streets Wednesday as it roared through islands in the northern Caribbean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it could rake the entire length of Florida's east coast and push into Georgia and the Carolinas.Allison (Collevechio) Fredericks, a former Lansford resident and 2002 Panther Valley graduate, currently lives in Jupiter, Florida, 90 miles north of Miami, with her husband Matthew.A teacher in the Palm Beach County School District, Fredericks said the school district closed today and tomorrow in order to allow everyone ample time to prepare."We have filled up our gas tanks, have water, ice, flashlights, food," Fredericks said. "We are hunkering down and staying."Fredericks added, "The traffic is crazy to try and go north."Shutters will be installed this morning on the bottom floor of the town home. "The second and third floors have hurricane impact windows," Fredericks said.Pattie Mihalik, a Times News columnist who lives in Rotonda West, Florida, said she doesn't know if she will have electricity."Things are really scary here with Hurricane Irma," Mihalik said. "Already there is no water in any of the stores in our vicinity."Finally, at the third store she tried, she found bottles of water.Mihalik added that the local Walmart's shelves are bare, including the shelf that had Spam."The clerk told me they had three pallets of Spam delivered that morning," she said. "I got there at noon time and it was all gone."Despite others evacuating the state, Mihalik said she's planning to brave the storm and hope for the best."So many of my neighbors left for the road, but with gas being so short and with not knowing where the hurricane will go next, I'm staying put in my house," she said. "The last thing I heard is we will not get a direct hit, but we will get winds of 120 miles an hour.""For anyone in my town who has to leave their homes, there are no shelters," she said. "The closest one is 35 miles away in the next town."However, Mihalik said neighbors with sturdier homes are taking in strangers."Young people who could have left stayed behind to help older folks," she said. "And several tradesmen stopped their jobs to volunteer to help older folks put up storm windows. One guy came to my house and it meant so much."Jim Zbick, a retired Times News staffer, lives in Fort Myers, Southwest Florida."We're kind of buttoning up down here," Zbick said. "At least we won't be in the direct path. Most of the models show the eye is going to track up the East Coast, which would save us from a direct hit."He added, "The whole length of the state is going to get something probably. It's such a huge storm."Zbick said his area had a really bad rainstorm two weeks ago when Houston, Texas, was hit by Harvey."We get rains off the Gulf. That was the closest it came to my door," he said. "It was about 12 feet from my door."Zbick said everyone this week has been really conscious, adding that all the stores were pretty much sold out of everything."I'm pretty well set with water; I have maybe five to six cases at home," he said. "I'm looking to have somebody maybe put on some plywood on my windows."Patti Forgay of Palmerton has a brother who lives in Florida, while her daughter Carrie is currently on vacation in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic."I was talking to my daughter last night, and it cut off and I haven't been able to reach her since," Forgay said. "Of course I'm worried about her. She had said it was starting to get bad as far as wind and rain and they were starting to tie things down."Forgay said her brother, Scott Green, lives in Port St. John, near Cocoa Beach, Florida."They're preparing for it, but as of now, he's staying," she said. "We're praying for all of them."Amy Miller contributed to this report.