BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Florida's emergency crews are now getting ready for Gordon. Governor Jeb Bush signed an executive order Saturday to activate state resources and personnel, and Florida residents are preparing as well. Ned Roberts, from CNN affiliate WTSP is in Tampa and he's got more -- Ned.</s>NED ROBERTS, WTSP REPORTER: Well, one activity that's going on throughout the bay area right now: folks picking up sandbags like the ones you see behind me here. City sewer workers have been filling up these bags out of machines like this, piling them up. Let's go ahead and take a look at some video we shot a little bit earlier today. About 150 cars have come through this area with these sandbags, picking up, we're told, about 2,000 sandbags, taking them back home. There's a lot of low-lying areas. I'm not far from the Hillsburough River here. That runs into Tampa Bay. A lot of low-lying areas around here. People certainly want to protect their homes -- these sandbags one big way they're going to do it. Joining me back -- now here live, is Steve Sweeney from the city sewer department. How are you doing today?</s>STEVE SWEENEY, TAMPA SEWER DEPARTMENT: I'm fine, thank you.</s>ROBERTS: Good. Are you guys going to be ready for whatever Hurricane Gordon might bring tomorrow?</s>SWEENEY: We are ready. We have a good supply of sandbags and we have several emergency response crews standing by.</s>ROBERTS: Going to be working through the night?</s>SWEENEY: It looks that way.</s>ROBERTS: All right, it's going to be a busy night for folks here. I talked to one person who came by to pick up some sandbags today, she said, it's an inconvenience, but one that's certainly worth that inconvenience. Better to be safe than sorry, she said. Ned Roberts, reporting live for CNN in Tampa.
Preparatory Measures Escalate as Gordon Reaches Hurricane Status