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Florida evacuees fear for the worst as first reports from Hurricane Michael emerge

"We're (watching) all over social media, and cameras and beach cams."

Some of the people who evacuated for Hurricane Michael ended up heading west to places like Biloxi, Mississippi.

Now, they are worried with what they will be facing when they return home.

Craig and Carrie Terry, along with their two children, tried their best to stay calm in Biloxi as they watched Hurricane Michael make landfall back home. The Terrys live near Highway 30A which is close to Panama City Beach.

“We’re (watching) all over social media, and cameras and beach cams,” Craig Terry said.

Craig is a builder and especially worried about some of the homes he’s been working on.

“One house that I’m most concerned about were just, it’s on the Gulf, and it’s just a month or so away from completion,” he said.

Along, with that, the family wasn’t able to take much with them when they were notified to prepare for evacuations on Monday.

"We really just grabbed clothes and food out of the refrigerator in case we lost power, I grabbed some pictures from our honeymoon,” Carrie Terry said.

The Terrys are hopeful their home will withstand the hurricane, but are still very worried when they return.

“And then all of a sudden it’s a Cat. 3 and then a 4 immediately, almost a 5. You just don’t know so you just gotta get out of there” he said.

Another family, Rob and Shelly Myers and their two children, live just a little west of Panama City Beach. They left for Biloxi after warnings to evacuate came on Monday.

"We're hearing of reports from friends and people that we know up and down the coast of water crashing into buildings that front the beach now there's a lot of damage," Rob Myers said.

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The family had little time to pack with the storm intensifying in just one day to a Cat. 4.

"Very surprising because on Sunday it seemed like this thing would be much smaller and maybe coming this way," Rob Myers said.

The Myers have lived through the heartache of a severe hurricane before. Shelly recalls living through Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

"I'm very scared for our community. We love where we live, we have a great community of neighbors, of friends and schools and we're worried that it's going to change things for a very long time," Shelly Myers said.

Jacqueline Quynh can be reached at jquynh@wwltv.com.

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