NEW PORT RICHEY, Florida (KELO.com) -- Former KSFY-TV news anchor Doug Tobin would prefer a snow storm, but instead, he's preparing for Hurricane Irma, as spokesman for Pasco County Florida near Tampa:
"I'd choose a snow storm over a hurricane," Tobin said. "I'm talking about a nice, light snow."
In handling hurricanes and tropical storms in Florida, Tobin still follows a tip he learned long ago in one of his first broadcast jobs in South Dakota: Wild weather is exciting to cover for media people, but to the folks out there it's life threatening, so always focus on that.
"It's exciting to us (in the media) because it's different," Tobin said. "But to all the farmers who are out there, to business people, this is life threatening."
In the snow versus water department, for example, Pasco County has "sand bag stations" where residents can shovel sand--not snow--into their sandbags and transport them back to their home or business. Tobin's Pasco County is also under a local state of emergency.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Pasco County has over 512,000 residents.
