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Hurricane Irma prep

Signs, signs, everywhere signs—including Mike Haridopolos’ house

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

Mike Haridopolos didn’t let something like a plywood shortage stop him from protecting his Melbourne home with Hurricane Irma on the way.

The former Senate President (2010-12) instead put his old campaign signs to use, using them to cover a large window on the front of his house, on the Banana River about a mile from the Atlantic.

As he posted on Twitter this morning: “Long lines and no plywood left at local stores yesterday so we decided to improvise. #stayawayirma.”

“My wife came home yesterday and started laughing,” he said in a phone interview. “I said, ‘Look honey, I’m just trying to protect ourselves.’ It’s better than nothing.”

For good measure, he double-layered the signs and used duct tape to secure in between them, he said. Luckily, the rest of the windows on his home are hurricane-resistant.

He said he’s gotten hold of more plywood to put up today, but is thinking of covering the rest of the big window with the remaining signs he has left. He and his family plan to evacuate later today.

Before joining Florida Politics, journalist and attorney James Rosica was state government reporter for The Tampa Tribune. He attended journalism school in Washington, D.C., working at dailies and weekly papers in Philadelphia after graduation. Rosica joined the Tallahassee Democrat in 1997, later moving to the courts beat, where he reported on the 2000 presidential recount. In 2005, Rosica left journalism to attend law school in Philadelphia, afterwards working part time for a public-interest law firm. Returning to writing, he covered three legislative sessions in Tallahassee for The Associated Press, before joining the Tribune’s re-opened Tallahassee bureau in 2013. He can be reached at [email protected]

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