SABINE PASS, Texas – While it is unknown when specifically Tropical Storm Cindy will land, the people living near the gulf aren't taking the storm lightly.
The wind was whipping Tuesday night along Sabine Pass, contributing to the unsettled nerves of residents watching the storm make its way to the coast.
"We just got everything put up like it should be and hopefully it does nothing but wind and rain," Fannie Henderson said. "We've got plenty of groceries and a generator just in case the lights go out."
Henderson lived through Hurricane Rita, and most recently Ike, which both slammed the area. She knows all too well what storms can do.
"It took our whole house down, it was real bad. We left. We went to Houston to my son's and come to find out it came that way too," Henderson said.
Many residents across the area said they've been watching the weather closely and paying extra attention to the radar.
“People are starting to notice now. Everybody is fastening stuff down and stocking up on various stuff,” April Green, who works in Sabine Pass, said.
With Tropical Storm Cindy expected to make landfall somewhere along the coast in the next 36-48 hours, residents are preparing now instead of waiting until the last minute.
“Whatever you've got under your house, you've got to get it up on your porches,” Bub Bradshaw said. “That salt water comes in, it'll ruin anything. It ruins anything, salt water does.”
Although the area has the potential to get rainfall, which might be heavy, residents said this latest storm is still enough to get them to be prepared, especially considering it's so early into the hurricane season.
“Yeah, we'll have standing water, but as long as there's not a storm surge. That's what I worry about is a storm surge,” Green said.
“I mean, everything we have is tacked to the ground pretty good,” Bradshaw said. “We're not too worried about the wind. We're more worried about the water coming in.”
“I worry every year,” resident Bub Bradshaw said. “We've been lucky since (Hurricane) Ike.”
Like many others who live in the area, they're hunkering down before Cindy makes landfall no matter where that may be.
"I work in this area at the refineries. So we're just tying everything down and just getting ready for a lot water really," Mike Clausen said.
