ASTOR, Fla. — In Lake County, officials are keeping a close eye on the community of Astor. The community sits right on the St. John’s River. They most recently saw flooded roads before Hurricane Helene. Astor also flooded in 2022 from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole.

Brian McNeely moved to Astor from South Florida 16 years ago. As a lifelong Floridian, he’s seen his share of storms. The flooding and fish kills are now a common outcome during big storms. He’s expecting the same thing when Hurricane Milton moves through the state.

“I’ve never run from a hurricane, but this one kind of scares me. It’s been a while since we’ve had a real strong storm this close to us,” said McNeely.

It’s a situation Lake County is keeping their eyes on. While officials don’t want people to panic, they do want them to prepare these next couple of days before the storm hits.

“Make sure you have a plan in place. They can either withstand the flooding that’s going to happen, and they can stay in their home, or they need to make a plan to leave. At this point this is when they need to start finalizing that plan and getting those travel arrangements put together,” said Megan Milanese, Emergency Management Director for Lake County.

As for McNeely, he believes this is the calm before the storm.

“Astor’s just an old fishing town,” said McNeely. “When it floods ... there’s no fishing. We can’t get campers even to come to the campsite because they get stuck. It’s not just us here at the campsite, it’s the gas stations and the restaurants. The town just suffers horribly.”

Right now, all McNeely can do is wait for the storm to pass and hope it doesn’t hurt his community in Astor. Lake County has closed all boat ramps in the area due to expected flooding.