Residents of the small town of St. Marks located in the Florida Panhandle made final preparations as extremely dangerous Hurricane Michael was set to make landfall Wednesday afternoon.
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The town was already experiencing some minor flooding late Tuesday because of the king tide, forcing some road closures.
The only road that leads in and out of St. Marks was already completely shut down ahead of the hurricane.
Most residents heeded mandatory evacuation orders and are now waiting elsewhere to find out just how bad the storm surge will impact the Gulf Coast town.
Since St. Marks is also located along the Wakulla River, locals fear the powerful storm could have a devastating impact.
The owner of Shields Marina prepared his business for the surge of water that is expected to hit the region.
"I’m prepared for almost 4 feet (of water) in my house. I had moving people come get all my furniture,” said Chuck Shields of Shields Marina.
Local residents said some of the worst storm surge the town has seen was when Hurricane Dennis hit the area in 2005.
During that time, the water reached as far as their post office, which is a third of a mile away from the river.
“Everybody moved out this time. If you go up the street, and look at the property up here, it’s full of boats and cars and trucks. I think everybody learned from Dennis,” said Shields.
