CRYSTAL RIVER, FLORIDA — For Citrus County residents, storm surge tops the list of concerns associated with Hurricane Michael.

In Crystal River, residents are worried about the possibility of significant flooding to coastal properties. 

That’s why there’s a mandatory evacuation order in place for residents in Zone A living along the water. Many heeded the warnings of county and state leaders, and spent much of the day getting their properties ready for the storm. 

Across Citrus County, many gas stations were out of gas as early as this morning, as people stocked up before the storm or got out of mandatory evacuation areas.

Business owners along King’s Bay in Crystal River have dealt with flooding before.

“Hermine took us by surprise," said Diana Oestreich, Owner of Birds Underwater. "Usually elevation, which was under 3 feet, was suitable — we’d clean the floor and put it all back together."

But with Hermine there was about 4 feet of water inside the Bird’s Underwater dive shop, causing significant damage to the items inside.

That’s why they’re not taking any chances with Michael. They are moving all of their inventory into a U-Haul and getting boats out of the water. 

“The kayaks are on the boats. We’ve brought them in the past into the dive shop, but there’s always a possibility that we could get so much water in here that the kayaks could float up to the ceiling and damage the ceiling,” Oestreich said. 

For the boats that are too big to move, owners spent the afternoon tying them down.

“It would just be too hard to pull them out. They’re in this basin — it blocks a lot of the wind, so it’s worked so far,” Jeremiah Carlucci said

With everything prepped, they say now all they can do is wait. 

“Just wait and see. Just wait and play it by ear,” Carlucci added. 

Oestreich said they hope by removing all the items inside they'll be able to get cleaned up quickly and reopen not long after the storm.