Polk County sandbag sites open throughout weekend

BARTOW — Sandbag fill sites for Polk County residents preparing for Tropical Storm Dorian will be open throughout the weekend. Sand will be available at Roadway Maintenance Units Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. each day.

A maximum of 10 sandbags will be provided to each household to help prevent water intrusion into the home. The following locations will provide sand and sandbags. Please bring your own shovel.

Sandbag fill site locations are:

• Mulberry – 900 NE 5th St., Mulberry, (863) 519-4734
• Lakeland – 8970 N. Campbell Road, Lakeland (863) 815-6701 Fort Meade – 1061 NE 9th St., Fort Meade (863) 285-6588
• Frostproof – 350 County Road 630A, Frostproof (863) 635-7879
• Auburndale – 1701 Holt Road, Auburndale (863) 965-5524
• Dundee – 805 Dr. Martin Luther King St. SW, Dundee, (863) 421-3367

Sunday’s schedule could change, depending upon sand supply and increasing wind speeds.

Residents living in flood prone areas are encouraged to sandbag their homes. To protect against water damage, follow these simple sandbagging techniques. At the area where water can enter a structure:

If not working on concrete, a small ditch should be dug just deep enough to go below ground level. The ditch should be back far enough from the entrance to allow room to place optional submersible (sump) pumps into the protected area. The edge of the visqueen should be placed in the ditch as a bottom layer. Place the first row of sandbags in ditch, fold visqueen over the top of first row, place a second row of bags on top, fold visqueen back over, place a third row of bags on top, and so on. This creates an "S" pattern with the visqueen. Depending on t