ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Businesses along Dock Street are preparing to take on water, something they're used to.
"Every time we get a warning, we start checking with NOAA and look at the tide charts, and it kind of lets us know what we can expect out here. We know that we get water in the gallery at 3.9, so when they're saying it's gonna be 3.2, 3.6, and it starts to go a little close, we just go ahead and pick up everything that we have down below. We clear everything out of the front window we move it upstairs onto a safe location.Our first priority, of course, is our artwork," Kate Wilkerson, owner of the Marine Art Gallery said.
Watch as Annapolis residents brace for flooding
"So we flood with regularity. We will flood now even without the high tides. We will flood in a heavy squall, and that forces me to close down and unfortunately, send employees home. It's not good," Sveinn Storm, owner of Storm Bro's Ice Cream said.
Wilkerson owns and operates Marine Art Gallery.
Just steps from the water, she's aware of how high it can get until it makes its way into the shop.
"It's about an hour and a half because we put cardboard in between to protect the frames and protect the artwork, so it takes us a little bit of time," Wilkerson said.
"And you had to do that last night. Are you planning to do it again, today," we asked.
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"We did it last night. We thankfully did not flood last night, and we're going to keep an eye on things and we'll see if we have to do all that again," Wilkerson added.
So far, she hasn't put out sandbags, something the city of Annapolis isn't providing just yet.
"Being on the front lines of storms is something we're well accustomed to here in Annapolis, so we're ready. We're watching it very carefully. Fortunately, it looks like we're not going to get a major impact, but we're always ready," David Mandell, Deputy Director of Annapolis Office of Emergency Management said.
Storm, who owns Storm Bro's Ice Cream Shop, takes preventive measures into his own hands.
"In the last three years, I ended up getting an apartment down here because we have a barricade that I can put in the front door. And the barricade prevents flood waters from getting into my store and so we just attach it to the door jam it has rubber seals around the outside of it. Any water that could leak or would leak from my neighbor's walls, we have several different size pumps and we can stay ahead of it," Storm said.
Annapolis is in the process of increasing flood protections along Dock Street -- the construction is already underway.
Preparing for the next major storm.
"This one's going to miss us, as everybody expects at this point, but it's only the beginning of hurricane season, only the middle of hurricane season, I should say it goes through November 30. So while this storm may be a miss, who knows when the next one may come, so it's a really good reminder to folks get ready, be prepared, get your emergency kits going, speak to your families, know what your plan is when the real storm that does impact Annapolis, comes our way," Mandell said.
