Fifty-year-old Steve Machado was packing up his car this afternoon on St. John Street in Dartmouth with items including a change of clothes, a laptop and a camera. He was also bringing along his pitbull, Elizabeth, and he said he planned to ride out Hurricane Sandy at his sister’s house in New Bedford.

“It’s great,” Machado said of the wind and rain. “Just what we need, know what I mean?”