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Florida’s Emergency Operations Center has been elevated to a level one, its highest activation, as the anticipated landfall of Tropical Storm Elsa grows nearer.

Many along the Northern Gulf Coast are taking precautions.

Billy Adams of Jacksonville wasn’t taking any chances and was pulling his 37 foot boat out of the water at Keaton Beach Tuesday morning.

“Just came here to get everything battened down,” said Adams.

The Williams Family from Valdosta rents there year round.

“Some say it’s coming in. Some say it’s not,” said Judy Williams.

We asked what made them decide to pack up and leave.

“Because we’re going to have a bad surge. Three to five,” said Williams.

They had planned to go scalloping and spend the rest of the week in Taylor County.

Instead, Elsa sent them packing.

“I’ll be honest, everybody’s got a different opinion about it. We just not going to take any chances. Take it home,” said V.J. Williams.

Campground owner Spyridon Aibejeris told us not everyone is making the same call.

“Some are waiting it out. Yeah. If you can wait until the last minute, they wait until the last minute. If not, they get prepared and leave,” said Aibejeris.

When Hermine came roaring through the same area in 2016, the storm pushed nine feet of water into the RV park.

“It could be a CAT 1, like we had during Hermine. We’re worried about that,” said Taylor County Director of Emergency Operations Kristy Anderson.

Flood maps covered a table in the Taylor county EOC.

As of midday evacuations were voluntary

“We usually have our storms later in the season, and this is a really early one,” said Anderson. “Usually our peak time is October and that’s when we usually see storms of this magnitude.”

As of Tuesday morning the state had called up just ver 200 National Guard troops.

Most were pushing supplies out of the state’s Orlando warehouse.

By Wednesday afternoon, those who stayed will know if they made the right decision.