Collier County schools will close Thursday and Friday, and all residents who are able to leave have been urged to get out of the state ahead of Hurricane Irma.
Collier County commissioners plan to meet at noon Wednesday to declare a state of emergency and decide whether to enforce mandatory evacuations.
If the storm, one of the most powerful ever recorded in the Atlantic, continues moving toward Florida, it will get more difficult to leave the state, said Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk.
"If we start seeing major populations evacuate in the east, traffic will only increase," Rambosk said. "The communities at the end of the line are going to have the most difficult time. We're at the end of the line."