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Eleven months ago residents in the panhandle were surprised by a category five hurricane that didn’t lose strength as it moved inland.

The sight of Dorian on their television screens has been making them relive one of the scariest days of their lives.

Blue tarps still populate the Blountstown skyline.

Clyde Bailey rode out Hurricane Michael and said Dorian is bringing back bad memories.

“It was a traumatic experience and the anticipation of you know, going through it again is quite devastating to your mental capacity,” said Bailey.

The same is true for Mary Folsom.

She lost a brother more than a decade ago from hurricane spawned tornadoes.

“I have trouble sleeping now because of the hurricanes and tornadoes and stuff like that,” said Folsom.

One of Dorian’s earlier tracks, took the storm across the state into the gulf, and then here to the panhandle.

Blountstown town city manager Traci Hall immediately begin planning for the worst.

“I was not at all very happy. I’m very thankful its not coming our way,” said Hall.

Michael’s One 145 mile per hour winds were a surprise when they blew through the town.

Those we spoke with who rode it out said they wouldn’t do it again.

91-year-old James Glass rode out Michael.

During the storm he watched a tree three feet in diameter snap in his front yard.

“If there’s another one comes here and they name it, I’m gonna run,” said Glass.

Nine out of ten insurance claims in this small town have been settled, but nearly 400 are still pending.

The city is also still waiting for an 11 million reimbursement from FEMA for debris removal.

While most of the physical scars in Blountstown have healed, the mental scars left by Michael are as fresh today as they were 11 months ago, thanks to another monster storm named Dorian.

Florida remains under a state of emergency as Hurricane Dorian begins to make its way North.

Evacuation orders are still in effect for much of Florida’s east coast, yet traffic across the state has remained relatively clear.

Traffic was miles long and flowing at a snails pace on I-10 west bound in 2017 as six million Floridians tried to escape Hurricane Irma’s path.

ON Tuesday, as Dorian inched up the state’s east coast, traffic was clear.

The Florida Highway Patrol said it’s the same around the state.

“People are just staying home, staying put and through the last monitoring, extremely light traffic patterns,” said FHP Director Col. Gene Spaulding.

During Hurricane Irma the rest stop we visited was essentially converted to a makeshift RV park full of evacuees.

However, after spending an hour there Tuesday, we were only able to find a handful of evacuees escaping Dorian even though 17 Florida counties had issued evacuation orders, 12 of them mandatory.

St Augustine resident Albert Stefanoiu was one of the million Floridians living in an evacuation zone.

He decided not to take any chances.

“It’s best to get out. You can rebuild your home, but you can’t rebuild your life,” said Stefanoiu.

Governor Ron DeSantis said part of the reason Dorian evacuations are running smoother compared to Irma is because the state gave local communities more say in where and when to issue evacuation orders.

“I think it’s worked better,” said DeSantis. “I think there was frustration in the past when people were kind of crisscrossing the state having to evacuate. Actually, some people evacuating into the storm path.”

Unless there’s a major shift in Dorian’s projected path it is unlikely escape routes will face the congestion seen during Irma, which is good news for those still considering evacuating.

While the threat of Dorian appears to be lessening, the Governor continues to urge Floridians to heed evacuation orders.

For an updated list visit Floridadisaster.org/info.

The State Emergency Operations Center is on day five of Hurricane Dorian watch.

As the storm inches toward Florida, the question on every Floridian’s mind is when the storm will take a turn North.

It could be the difference of a minor incident and a catastrophe.

While many in Florida used Labor Day as a time to evacuate or prepare for Hurricane Dorian, state emergency officials worked around the clock to ensure the state is ready for a possible landfall.

The morning Hurricane briefing was delayed 20 minutes while Governor Ron DeSantis spoke with the President.

“He’s going to provide whatever resources we need,” said DeSantis.

Counties along the east cost have issued evacuation orders.

As of 5 AM, storm had nearly stalled; a possible sign of a northern turn.

“Once we see the definitive movement north on which path that’s on, that’s going to allow us to kind of even more concisely, concretely, identify the places along Florida’s cost that are most at risk,” said DeSantis.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said 2,100 reports of price gouging have been received by her office.

Her office had made in-person contact with at least 150 businesses.

“I’m happy to report that in many instances we’ve had businesses reduce their prices,” said Moody.

Florida Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis said both in and out of state search and rescue teams were ready for deployment.

“Right now, we’ve got 2,100 staged. Now, we don’t know exactly where the storm is going to hit,” said Patronis.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said the Department of Agriculture had more than a million gallons of water and almost two million meals staged.

She also waived rules to allow premium gas prices to be lowered if standard fuel runs out.

“So that if somebody was to come to any of the gas stations they would be able to get any of the gas that was there for the same low price,” said Fried.

The storm comes on an important tourism weekend for the state.

The Governor said the economic impacts can’t be measured yet.

“I want as robust tourism as possible, but my most important priority is that Floridians are safe,” said DeSantis.

The hope is to see the storm make a northern turn by Tuesday morning.

In the meantime, all of Florida remains under a state of emergency with the threat of Dorian looming just off the coast.

Go to floridadisaster.org/info for all evacuation updates.