As Hurricane Isaias continues to churn in the Gulf, many Mexico beach residents are preparing for the worst. Mell Smigielski, Mexico Beach City Administrator, says hurricanes are no longer something his community takes lightly.
“Some people have called it PTSD, you might say, because, pre Hurricane Michael in 2018, you know, there were a number of hurricane parties that were scheduled by people because things didn't get really serious," Smigielski says. "Because of Hurricane Michael now, I've not heard of one party being scheduled for this particular Friday night.”
Mexico Beach was hit eight years ago Saturday directly by Category 5 Hurricane Michael, causing damage that the area is still recovering from today. Smigielski says the experience brought the community together, and that relationship is evident in how residents are preparing for Isaias.
“So, you know, there's a lot of folks who've enlisted some help of some neighbors and friends and some of our emergency personnel who can go out and kind of give them a hand," Smigielski says. "There is this neighborly thing going on where we're checking on one another, making sure we're all going to be in good shape to ride this thing out.”
Smigielski says the city is providing sandbags as well as areas for people to coordinate moving vehicles to higher ground. Hurricane Isaias is currently projected to make landfall between the Florida Panhandle and lower Alabama Friday night or early Saturday morning.
