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Gators football team preparing for Hurricane Irma

Brandon Powell isn’t fazed by hurricanes.

He’s been through plenty of them before.

Growing up in Deerfield Beach, Florida, the wide receiver has endured everything from imposing Category 5 storms to meager tropical cyclones.

“You know, my family, we’ve been through Katrina and Hurricane Wilma,” Powell said. “There’s not too much to worry about.”

Ask around the rest of UF’s locker room and you’ll hear the exact same thing. Most of its players are from Central and South Florida and are used to the annual murmurings of devastating whirlwinds and catastrophic natural disasters.

But with Hurricane Irma — one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, according to CNN — expected to hit the United States this weekend, Powell and the rest of his teammates can’t help but be concerned.