ST. MARY PARISH - Residents wasted no time on Monday preparing their homes, camps and boats for a storm surge as Hurricane Francine continues to approach the gulf coast.  

Alan Corne, Commodore of the Cypremort Point Yacht Club, said many boat owners have already picked up their vessels that were dry docked by Monday afternoon. Larger boats were in the process of being secured and the sails were removed as a necessary precaution. 

Meanwhile, Kip Schumacher and friends were busy boarding up the doors and windows of a residence he uses as a campsite. Schumacher said taking extra steps such as that, ensures his property will come out of the storm less damaged than other homes in the area. 

"It really made it a lot easier for us to weather these storms and when other people have had a lot more damage, we've had very little damage because of the prevention that we've kinda perfected here. We've got it down to half a day," Schumacher said.

Sandbags are available throughout St. Mary Parish and you can find a list of locations here. 

The St. Mary Levee District will close all floodgates by the end of the day Tuesday.