Locals Getting Ready For Hurricane Irene

Deric Maddaleni, 17, of Lynnfield, believes Hurricane Irene will definitely take some trees down and cause possible danger to houses, with its heavy wind and blinding rain.

"I don't think it'll be as bad as the news says," Maddelini said. "They like to scare people," adding that it definitely won't be as severe as Hurricane Bob in 1991, which hit coastal areas, such as Swampscott and Winthrop, badly.

His father will stock up on food and flashlights from Costco.

Maddaleni hopes the hurricane is as short as possible, because he works Saturday morning and Sunday from 1-9 p.m. as a cashier and shelf stocker at Old Towne Market in Post Office Square. But he does live close to his employer.

After work Saturday morning, Maddeleni noted he'd stay in his basement to keep safe.

Harvey Stone, of Lynnfield, a customer at Dunkin' Donuts, also in Post Office Square, has stayed tuned to channel 5 and 7.

"The way they're talking, it sounds like we'll get more wind and less rain," Stone said. "They keep changing the forecast."

Like Maddaleni, Stone doesn't believe Hurricane Irene will be as wet as Hurricane Bob, or Hurricane Andrew, in 1992.

Stone plans to stock up a little, especially on water.

Racheal Huckabee, 20, of Lynnfield, will travel to her hometown of Floral, Ark. this weekend. She lives in Lynnfield with her boyfriend of five years, Chris Cavalieri, of Lynnfield, who she met in a Yahoo chatroom.

Although the hurricane won't hit Arkansas, she is concerned about a layover in Charlotte, N.C., where Irene is expected to also hit.

"My boyfriend's family will buy food and flashlights if the power goes out," Huckabee said, who is actually related to fomer presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee.

She lived in Arkansas when the other Massachusetts hurricanes hit, and has never experienced one, since Arkansas gets tornadoes, thunderstorms, and flash floods.