People living in the Florida Panhandle are scrambling to prepare their homes and businesses for Hurricane Michael.
The Category 2 storm is currently in the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s expected to gain strength as it makes landfall Wednesday.
Officials ordered an evacuation by noon Tuesday in Pensacola Beach, but for those residents staying, they are spending the day preparing.
Randall King lived through Hurricane Opal, a Category 3 storm that hit the coast in 1995. He says his Pensacola home took in about 6 feet of water during that devastating storm. That’s why he doesn’t take warnings lightly.
“If you're that close to the cone of uncertainty, always be certain to be prepared,” he says.
However, everyone didn’t spend the day preparing for the storm. A group of people were seen on the beach.
“It’s not too bad right now,” says Abisai Avelar, a Pensacola resident. “Just for the thrill of it, for the experience. Couple guys wanted to come out. Some of these guys don't live here, so this is a first for them to experience something like this.”
Hurricane Michael is expected to carve a path from the Florida Panhandle through Georgia and then all the way up into the Carolinas.
