Stacey Henson, Melanie Payne, John Torres, Lisa Conley and Jessica Guynn

USA TODAY Network

Longtime resident Ed Brown is staying put in nearly deserted Fort Myers Beach, Fla., despite an evacuation order and predictions of a storm surge of up to 12 feet.

Brown and his friend Tim Benevente were busy with storm preparations at the popular tourist destination Saturday, piling sandbags while hoping for the best.

If need be, Brown said he would climb aboard his nearby boat or climb into a cooler and float on the floodwaters.

"It's a crap shoot really," said Brown, who has lived on Estero Island, off the southwest Florida coast, since 1984. "I've been a gambler my whole life. I'm gonna roll the dice."

Most of their neighbors packed up long ago, but some residents in Irma's destructive path are not evacuating even as officials issue dire warnings about the deadly storm bearing down on them.

More:As Irma closes in, Florida evacuees make last-minute rush for shelters

More:When will Hurricane Irma make landfall in Florida?

Several said they were staying behind to protect their homes or property. One man said he couldn't leave his terminally ill mom. Another said he had no choice because his pet monkey is not allowed in the evacuation centers. One woman said she was placing her faith in God to shelter her inside her mobile home.

Developer Joe Orlandini, who rode out Hurricane Wilma but left town for Hurricane Charley, was out checking on about 60 properties and building sites in Fort Myers Beach on Saturday afternoon. He sent his wife and two children to safety in Ohio and planned to host six to 10 people at his three-story concrete home in the middle of the island.

Orlandini says he had a gut feeling that Irma would head farther east and decided to remain on the island to watch over his property. He began having second thoughts after one forecaster predicted winds up to 195 mph.

"Wilma wasn't that bad. ... It was tolerable," said Olandini, who has lived on Fort Myers Beach for 14 years.

The city of Marco Island, which is 9 to 11 feet above sea level, issued a mandatory evacuation order Friday morning, and urged residents to seek refuge at one of the county’s shelters.

But Wayne Ploghoft, who’s turning 61 on Friday, did not heed the appeal to pack up and leave.

“I’m on the third floor so I knew I would be OK here,” Ploghoft said.

Hurricane Irma is Ploghoft’s first hurricane. Originally from New Jersey, he moved to the island about three years ago.

Although he’s disabled and uses a scooter to get around, Ploghoft said that's not why he chose to remain on the island.

“I decided that all we will get is just a lot of wind and rain,” he said, “and being up high in a building was not going to be so bad.”

Most of the residents of Tropical Trailer Park in Fort Myers planned to clear out before Irma hit. But 47-year-old Milagros Nieves said she would ride out the storm in her mobile home, which was newer than most of the others in the trailer park.

Even if the trailer wasn't new, Nieves said, she's not worried.

"I believe in God," she said. "I'm safe."

Gary Read and his family, who live on the 29th floor of a luxury building in Miami, plan to stay put. They have stocked up on water, fruits and canned goods.

“I think we're expecting about 145 miles an hour by the time it gets here," he told Inside Edition. "The building is built to withstand 175 mile-per-hour winds, so I think we should be okay.”

Inside Edition spoke with some residents who said they were going to hole up in the garage on the sixth floor.

“We have multiple places within the building that are sealed in concrete. This to me is the most safest,” one resident said.

Sylvia Constantinidis, a 27-year resident of Miami, told ABC News she was staying behind to take care of her house in Coconut Grove, a block from the water.

"I own my house. You leave and then there is a major disaster then they don't let you come back to Florida until many days after," Constantinidis said. "If you have any damage or water getting into your house and you have to wait for two or three weeks to come back, then your house will be completely damaged by the time you come back to Florida."

Miami resident Jan-Michael Medina told ABC News he can't leave the city.

"My mom is terminally ill," Medina said. "It's too hard for her to be transported so there's no choice for me."

Genaro Dacosta says he has to stay put in his Miami Beach home because his pet marmoset is not allowed in a shelter or hotels.

"There is nothing I could do,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I have what they call a ‘wild animal.’ I won’t leave him."

In Brevard County, freelance photographer Julian Leek said he had grown weary this week of people asking why he wasn't planning to evacuate.

"People all over the world want to know why we're not evacuating, and we said we're the ones who live here and we make the idea of when to go and how we have to go," he said.

Now Irma has shifted west, putting Brevard County out of the storm’s path.

"We've got relatives over in Fort Myers and now they're evacuating back to Brevard County," Leek said. "The tables have turned."

Henson and Payne report for The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press, Torres reports for Florida Today, Conley reports for the Naples (Fla.) Daily News, and Guynn, reports for USA TODAY